


Harry Potter and the Life and Times of Tony DiNozzo

by Synlover753



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, NCIS
Genre: BAMF Harry Potter, BAMF Luna Lovegood, BAMF Tony DiNozzo, BDSM, Bondage, Canon deaths, Character Death, Competent Tony DiNozzo, Dead People Peanut Gallery, Developing Relationship, Dream Sex, Dreamsharing, F/M, Harry in Hiding, M/M, Mostly NCIS Canon Compliant, Non-Canonical Character Death, Not Beta Read, Protective Tony, Sensation Play, Singing Tony, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Talking To Dead People, Tony Feels, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-04-18 04:11:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 200,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14204772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synlover753/pseuds/Synlover753
Summary: Tony's hiding a secret, or two. It's the Mother of all MOAS (Mother of All Secrets) Few know his secret, how will he cope with everything and keep his secret.





	1. Kate's Dead

**Author's Note:**

> This story is unbeta'd and I am posting as it is written, so updates will be sporadic at best. Comments are welcome, if you have ideas for improvement feel free to comment, keep it constructive though please. If you want to see a specific episode, I'm always welcome to new ideas and they may spark some other idea, so just email me at rb82837@gmail.com and I will read your ideas, I may not use them, but you're welcome to contact me.

Death had always been a constant. Since his youth, death has plagued him wherever he went. It started in his first life when his parents were murdered when he was but a mere fifteen months old. Now? Now Kate has followed in his parents’ footsteps and suddenly she’s gone too. Taken from them by Ari Haswari. Ari fucking Haswari with the  _ kind _ fucking eyes. There, lurking beneath the haze of grief is the anger. Anger at not being able to protect one of his own. Keeping himself focused on finding Ari is all that is keeping him sane right now.

 

“Found Ari’s sniper’s nest, boss,” Tony strode into the bullpen with McGee following. Emotion carefully held in check. The rain dripping from his thoroughly soaked clothes. 

 

“Roof of an abandoned office building to the east,” McGee quipps after Tony in a way that reminds him of the twins. 

 

Tony pulls the shell casings out of his pocket, knowing Gibbs would recognize the shells. Tony knew they were Lapua .308 ammo. “Didn’t police his brass.”

 

Gibbs immediately rose and took the shell casings from Tony’s hand. Tony gracefully stepped back and let Gibbs look at the casings under the desk lamp. McGee mentioned what they were and Tony followed as Gibbs moved to look at the casings under another light. Tony tells him that there were no bullets found, but the had left guys searching the rooftops.

 

“McGee and I will go back to the roof, boss,” Tony steps closer to his desk and Gibbs to grab his bag again when Gibbs turns suddenly and Tony flinches as if he expects to get head-slapped into next week. He feels he deserves it, Kate died on his watch. Not even two feet away. Some fucking savior  _ he _ was. Tony winced at his own inner thoughts.

 

“Tony,” Gibbs’ voice catches a little on the name before he really gets a good look at Tony, “you’re soaking wet.” Gibbs voice holds a kind gentleness to it. “Go put some dry clothes on.” Gibbs walks over to the window and looks out thoughtfully over the bay. “Ari’s rooftop wasn’t much higher than ours. Roof lines behind us were lower. No telling how far a full metal jacket bullet would go after killing Kate.”

 

Tony hears the bitterness in Gibbs’ voice and knows that his boss is currently blaming himself for not being able to protect Kate. What Gibbs doesn’t realize is that his Second feels the exact same. McGee asks how Gibbs knows it’s a full metal jacket. Tony can’t keep his voice from breaking as he explains. Death never gets easier to deal with, no matter how many people close to him die.

 

“Didn’t you see Kate?” 

 

“I didn’t want to,” McGee’s voice sounds soft and meek, scared even.  _ Oh, how I envy you Probie.  _ Tony thought to himself sorely. His whole body felt like some sort of gaping hole. 

 

“Her head was intact.” Tony’s voice thick with emotion. Death. Is that all that will follow him? Is that what it means to be the Master of Death, whatever the hell that even means.

 

“So...she didn’t look bad?” McGee sounded hopeful. Understandable, Probie probably hadn’t had to deal with death before. 

 

“No. No, not at all, probie.” That didn’t stop Tony’s wound from bleeding out. He was just so tired of Death. So much Death. “In fact, a little mortuary putty right here and....she’ll be good as new. Of course, she was having a bad hair day, though. Right back here.” Tony gestured to the back of his head. He could feel the tightness in his throat threatening to cut off his words, maybe they should be cut off. Tony still can’t stop himself, though. “‘Cause a full metal jacket will put a hole the size of a grapefruit right about there.” He smacks the back of McGee’s head and can see the tears forming in his probie’s eyes. 

 

“Tony...please,” emotion barely held back. 

 

Tony took a moment, it was needed. “I’m sorry, kid,” and in that moment McGee reminds him of a kid, the kid he never was. The kid naive about death and the world dimmed by death. 

 

“Three rounds, only one hit,” Gibbs asks suddenly, sounding incredulous. Tony slips back into investigator, wrestling his emotions back under control. It’s hard, it always has been. Even after his own Death and separation from the creature that had attached itself to him. It was still hard to keep his emotions in check, but he learned. He had to.

 

“Well, he must have popped off a couple rounds when you were weaving across the roof.”

 

“I was standing still when Kate was shot,” Gibbs reminds Tony. Tony gulps suddenly, remembering the feel of Kate’s hot blood across his face. Another friend, dead. Another person he had unconsciously adopted as family, dead. What did that say? People around him kept dying. Maybe he just attracted death, but being the supposed “Master” of death, does that mean death can’t take him? So death just takes those around him in retaliation?  Tony stands silently, jaw clenched tight.

 

“I lasered the distance at 572 meters,” McGee starts before Tony continues.

 

“Slight shift in the wind, he misses you, he hits Kate.” Tony offers in theory.

 

Gibbs thinks for a second before responding, “there was no wind.”

 

“What, are you saying, he was aiming at Kate? You’re the one he wants to kill.”

 

“Ari had a thing for Kate.” McGee nodded along, trying to follow GIbbs’ logic.

 

“What are you talking about?” Tony asked sharply.

 

McGee continued his nodding, looking as if he were remembering more details, “she told me that he was always coming on to her - in autopsy, when he kidnapped her and let her go…”

 

“She never told me that,” Tony sounded regretful, he thought Kate had trusted him, at least a little. Sure he had snooped a little, but it was for survival. He had to be constantly on the lookout for any shift in knowledge from his coworkers. None of them could know about magic. His only allies in this, Ducky and Palmer, oddly enough. 

 

“Gee, what a surprise,” McGee snapped back tiredly. 

 

An angry force took hold of Tony as he snapped at McGee and strode over. Head-slapping McGee didn’t make him feel any better and bitterly reminded him of his cousin. Gibbs told him to stop and turned their attention back to the case at hand.  _ The job. Right. Focus, DiNozzo. _ Tony takes a moment to gather himself back under tenuous control while McGee answers Gibbs. Tony realizes, bitterly, that the shooter from the warehouse had probably saved Tim’s life. The thought of losing McGee, his little probie, it was unbearable. 

 

McGee agrees to check into the bullet possibly ricocheting into the car. Gibbs tells Tony to check with Abby about the brass. Tony watches as Gibbs walks behind his desk, paces a few times as if looking for something to do. Suddenly he comes around his desk saying he’s going for coffee and immediately asking to get McGee and Tony coffee. Tony portrays a bewildered mask, but inside his heart breaks. 

 

The pain in Gibbs’ eyes strikes at Tony’s very soul as he nods, his voice breaking, “yeah, boss. I’d love some.” McGee hesitates before agreeing as well. The relief in Gibbs’ eyes as he nods and walks off without asking them how they like their coffee. Tony knows that Gibbs learned that information about his team long ago.

 

“That was new,” McGee wonders. “He called me Tim.”

 

“Yeah, Tim, he’s making sure we know he cares. Without saying it, he’s saying he’s glad we’re alive.” Tony’s voice is thick with emotion as he stares off in the direction Gibbs had walked. He made a mental note to talk with Gibbs about treating them with kid gloves and turned to do as ordered. 

 

Tony watches as Abby talks to the room, “I really liked you Kate.” Tony’s heart broke a little more at the raw pain he heard in her voice. He subtly sent his magic to ward Abby’s lab and alert him if there were any changes in her mood or situation. He let her laugh for a few minutes before gently calling her name.

 

“Abby?”

 

“Hey, Tony.” Abby keeps the smile on her face. His eyes meet hers and he prods at her mind for a moment and sees that she was thinking about Ducky seeing Kate’s tat. He smiles inwardly at that as he asks if she’s okay. “I will be, soon as I tie up my pigtails. There.” She turned to face him. “What can I do for you?”

 

Tony stares at her a moment, “What?”

 

“You’re wierder than Gibbs.”

 

“How so?”

 

“He’s being nice,” Tony shrugs his shoulders in a shudder, despite his understanding behind the actions, it just wasn’t Gibbs. Tony reminded himself of his mental note to talk to Gibbs about it.

 

Abby shook her head at him, “Gibbs is always nice.”

 

“To you and Ducky, maybe. Me, he growls at and smacks on the head,” Tony let a little bit of his fondness of that creep into his voice. 

 

“Which makes you feel wanted,” Abby stands and looks at him with an open expression.

 

Tony thinks about that for a second, he wonders if it should disturb him how true that is, “yeah.”

 

“What do you got for me?” Abby rubs her hands and tries to sound excited, like she normally is for evidence.

 

Tony slowly raises the brass from under the table. “.308 casings from Ari’s sniper nest.” 

 

Tony says nothing of how Abby’s hands shake as she takes the evidence from his hands. She grabs a nearby pen and scrawls her name, “you would have to give me the popular caliber in the world.”

 

“Well, hey, I just found them.” Tony quipps back. “Can you tell what weapon he used?”

 

“A .308.”

 

“What model .308?” Tony sees the panic rising in Abby, the need for a release. Something to take pressure off the valve of her grief. He knows it was the wrong question as soon as he sees the look in her eyes. 

 

“You don’t know?”

 

He knows that without a little help, the pressure won’t let off while she wallows in her grief, so before her grief could turn inward, he helps her emotions along. “Would I be asking?”

 

“Well, how am I supposed to know?”

 

Tony takes a breath before he pulls the proverbial trigger, “because you’re the firearms expert.”

 

Abby’s eyes fall to the shell casings, “that, I am. And when I am done, I will tell you the propellant, the primer, the percentage of copper and nickel in the brass, whether or not all three rounds were fired from the same weapon, which you assume, but I can prove or disprove. I will tell you who manufactured the ammo, the batch number and perhaps, where it was sold. I will also, with some degree of accuracy, tell you if it was fired from a lever-action, a bolt-action, a semi-automatic, or an automatic weapon. However, there is no way in Hell I can tell you which of the 87 different .308 models fired those rounds!”

 

Tony was used to being people’s scapegoat, he had been his whole life. At least these people actually cared about him despite him making them hate him sometimes. He had watched silently as she had strode around her lab, yelling at him, turning on equipment. Coming to a stop right next to him. He turned and gently pushed the rounds towards her.

 

“The rounds are Lapua.”

 

“What?”

 

“Lapua made the ammo. Logo’s on the rim.” Tony stares at Abby, waiting for the inevitable. The tears are about to fall before she steps forward and wraps him in a hug.

 

“Tony, I’m going to miss her,” her voice breaking as she buried her face in his shoulder. 

 

Tony had gotten quite good at hiding his trepidation towards touch, the stiffening after a touch or hug, the shudders at women pawing at him. It was all a part of the facade, the mask. Had to keep up appearances. Had to be different than what he had once been. No connection. No one to find him. He wrapped his arms around the form of one of his closest friends. 

 

“Me too.”

 

Suddenly a bullet broke through the glass of Abby’s lab, Tony just barely getting enough warning to move Abby and pulling her to the wall almost before the glass had broken. Abby screamed and Tony quickly dragged her over to just below the window, no viable angle that way. He crouched with her beside him as he looked up and out the window. He saw a pair of legs running and three white cups hitting the pavement. 

 

“You hit?” Tony turned back to Abby.

 

“No, ohmygod, Tony, you’re like all muscle,” he felt her hand rubbing up and down his thigh in her panic. Tony silently crouch-walked to her other side to look out the other window. “Oh, you’re packing a nice booty, too.”

 

Tony looked at her curiously a second “hey, is this how you deal with getting shot at?”

 

“I don’t know, it’s my first time.” Abby looked around panickedly.

 

“Abby!” Gibbs called as he approached.

 

“Boss, down!” Tony called out in a stage whisper, “We’re taking fire.” Tony spread out his magical senses. It was something he didn’t like to do, especially in Abby’s lab with all the sensitive equipment. If anything went on the fritz, they could blame it on the storm. Gibbs rushed through and quickly turned off the lights in the lab. Tony felt Ari leaving just after Gibbs turned off the lights. 

 

“You okay?” Gibbs sat on Abby’s other side. 

 

Abby nods her head a little bit too quickly and Gibbs goes into boss mode, “close off Anacostia Park between the bridges. Tell metro cops it's a crime scene.” Tony is about to head off to do just that when Gibbs’ hand pulls him back down. “What if he has a night-vision scope?”

 

Tony winces, he can’t tell Gibbs that Ari is already gone, so he crawls the long way around the room as Gibbs promises to get Abby bulletproof glass to replace her windows. Or rather, bullet-resistant glass. Tony leaves the room and pulls his phone from it's place at his hip. He hears Gibbs follow with Abby shortly thereafter and he falls into step as he walks with Abby up to the bullpen. 

 

Gibbs went down to talk to Ducky and Tony was left with Abby. Abby had finished her statement and was now frowning down at Gibbs’ desk.

 

“Why did you shudder after saying he was nice?”

 

Tony sighed before looking around to make sure they were alone, “If he’s nice, that means he is on last moments thoughts. Ya know?”

 

“Yeah, like my last interaction with Kate was-” Abby cut herself off with a stricken look.

 

“Exactly, in which case will result in him treating us with kid gloves and not trusting us. If he stays nice, he won’t let us watch his back, Abby. He won’t let  _ me _ watch his back,” Tony’s eyes held a seriousness that caused Abby to think on Tony’s words. They had a ring of truth to them. 

 

“Hey, Tony?”

 

“Yeah, Abby?”

 

“Thank you for letting me rant earlier, before the shooting and glass shattering. I didn’t realize how much I just needed to let some of that out, so thanks.” Abby smiled thankfully at Tony.

 

Tony swallowed at the sudden emotion that had tightened his chest and throat. “Anytime, Abs. You know I love you, right?”

 

Abby smiled at him brightly, “Yeah, I love you too, Tony.”

 

Tony quickly crossed the room and pulled her up into a hug and they stayed there for a moment, comforting each other at the loss of one of their own. He also hadn’t wanted Abby to see the tears that fell down his face. That was the first time someone had thanked him for being their scapegoat. He knew it probably wasn’t psychologically healthy, but it soothed some part of him to see the lightness in the shoulders of those he cared for. He could take it, he had suffered worse at the hands of his so called family. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day the sun was shining so brightly that Tony didn’t know whether he preferred the rain from the night before or the sunshine that now felt entirely too happy. He came out of the elevator to the evidence garage and informed the team about what Metro police had found. “He didn’t police his brass again. Metro PD found a .308 casing in the park next to tire tracks.” Tony deliberately acted as if it were the end of his report so Gibb would ask…

 

“And?”

 

“Nothing, I was waiting for you to tell me to tell them to bring the evidence over here ASAP.” Tony smirked inwardly to himself as he saw the annoyance rise in Gibbs’ eyes.

 

“What, I have to tell you that, DiNozzo?” Gibbs almost purred his name. Tony took a breath as GIbbs walked closer, his plan was working. 

 

“You always do.” Tony snarked.

 

Tony couldn’t see Gibbs’ face, but he could tell Gibbs already had himself under control once more, “tell Metro PD to-”

 

“Already did, boss,” Tony interrupted in his most ostentatious voice. Grinning at the smirk sent his way by Gibbs with a look that said Gibbs knew exactly what he was doing. “Oh, and by the way, the Director wants to see you up in MTAC.”

 

Tony turned back around and he had a facefull of Abby, “Why are you baiting Gibbs?”

 

“Trying to get him to stop being nice.” Tony looked at Abby pointedly. Reminding her of their conversation in the bullpen.

 

“I like him nice.” McGee walked up.

 

Abby and Tony turned to stare at him for a moment before they simultaneously raised their hands and head-slapped McGee on the back of his head. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony heard Gibbs come out of MTAC, talking with the new Director. _Jen, huh. Oh, his sultry voice, definitely testing how she’ll respond. Hope for her sake she doesn’t go for it_ _Aww. She doesn’t fall for it._ He can almost feel the relaxing of Gibbs’ shoulders as his own as Jen passes Gibbs’ test. Tony begins his report of the tire track analysis as he peeks over the photo at their new director. _Go figure, another redhead._ Tony’s inner mood turns sour with jealousy. He holds no illusions. He’s in love with his Boss. He honestly hadn’t planned it, but something about those baby blues had drawn him in. 

 

“No one’s to leave the building. McGee is on protection detail with Abby. We’ll be back in an hour,” Gibbs walked off with miss redhead beauty. Tony bit back his jealousy and set to carry out Gibbs’ orders, like a good SIC. Unbidden, Tony’s mind turned to Kate. He stared down at the center of his desk, thinking of his artifacts. One in particular comes to mind in this situation.  _ Should I use it? Would it even work on Mundanes? _

 

“What good is being ‘ _ Master of Death’ _ if you can’t stop it?” Tony whispered to himself as he sneered at the title. His hand coming down in an angry smack on the desk.

 

“Sorry, what was that,” a feminine voice asked. Tony blinked as he came out of his deep introspection.  _ Shit _ . 

 

“What was what? Who are you?” Tony asked pointedly.

 

The woman before him was really quite beautiful, even dressed in casual garb, she held an effortless beauty that drew you in. Like a black widow, beautiful, but poisonous. Tony had seen her eyes before, in the mirror. She had seen and caused death. Just like he had, just like Gibbs, she had sought someone out with the intent to kill. Sure, his had been in self-defense, but the intent was still there.

 

“Ziva David,” she smiled confidently at him. “Mossad.”

 

Tony raised an eyebrow, “you’re Israeli?”  _ Gibbs is not going to like this. _

 

She chuckles humorlessly at him, “very good, the way you made that connection. Mossad, Israeli.”

 

“What can I do for you, Ms. David?” Tony asks pointedly.

 

“Nothing, I’m here to see Special Agent Gibbs.”

 

“How do you know I’m not Gibbs,” Tony’s senses on high alert. Starting to get real suspicious of all these women seeking out Gibbs. She laughs and sits at McGee’s desk.

 

“Gibbs?” Raising an eyebrow mockingly. 

 

Tony sighs, “He’ll be back in an hour. Are you sure I can’t help you?”

 

“No, I don’t think so.” she says scathingly and Tony takes a step back.

 

“I’m sorry, I think we got off to a bad start, you see we just recently lost one of our own, so like a wounded wolf we’re still licking our wounds.” Tony spoke softly and watched as her expression softened in sympathy. “I’m Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. Now maybe I can help if you just tell me why you’re looking for Special Agent Gibbs.”

 

“You can not help me because I am here to stop Agent Gibbs from killing a Mossad officer.”

 

“Ari Haswari?” Tony successfully kept his voice even and curious.

 

“Yes,” she sounded smug.

 

Tony leaned forward and encouraged her closer, “I’d wish you luck, but I want the bastard dead, too.”

 

She remained quiet for a while as he worked on the tire tracks. She began leaning against the filing cabinet, looking at him thoughtfully, “You’re from a wealthy family.”

 

“Oh yeah?”

 

“Born and raised on the East Coast,” Tony internally sighed in relief that he had fooled yet another one, “New England boarding school. Spent some time in the midwest and Philadelphia.”

 

“Why would you look little ole me up?” Tony asked as the elevator pinged and he heard Gibbs on the elevator. Ziva saw Jen and Gibbs walk up and moved to greet the new Director respectfully. Tony made note of the familiar greeting between the women as Gibbs sat behind his desk. Tony silently walked over to Gibbs and leaned over as Gibbs quietly told him to report first.

 

“Ziva David. Mossad. She’s here to stop you from whacking Ari. Yours?”

 

“Director Jenny Shepard. Same mission.”

 

“Which agency?” Tony had suddenly realized he would have had no way of knowing what agency she was director of were it not for his eavesdropping spells around his desk. 

 

“Ours.” Tony nods grimly as they turn to face the approaching women. 

 

“Special Agent Gibbs.” Jenny addressed, “Ziva David. Mossad.”

 

“Ziva,” she extended her hand confidently, “Director Shepard has spoken often of you.”

 

“Really?” Gibbs pondered. Tony could see the wheels turning, the same wheels turning in his head.  _ What had Jenny told Ziva about Gibbs? What weaknesses would be exploited?  _ Tony and Gibbs shared a look. 

 

“Ziva and I worked anti-terrorist ops since 9/11. You saw one today at MTAC,” Jenny explained.

 

“That one was yours,” Gibbs almost sounded impressed. Testing the waters, just like in interrogation sometimes, you had to test the waters to see how receptive the perp was to certain approaches. That’s what Gibbs was doing with this new Director and allies. 

 

Ziva smiled at the apparent praise, “I only acquired the intel.” 

 

Ziva then received a call and Tony looked to Jenny Shepard thoughtfully. She sighed in annoyance, “yes, I really am the new NCIS director.”

 

Tony went along with the role he played and leered at the ‘hot bod’ of his new Director. He had to cover his smile with a flinch as he felt Gibbs’ hand sharply across the back of his head, “Thanks, boss. Good to have you back, boss.” He felt the tenseness of his earlier wariness and worry ease out of his shoulders. This was good, this was familiar, Gibbs and DiNozzo against the world. Tony went back to work as Gibbs went and got coffee from the break room. He came back a few minutes later and placed a cup on his desk. Tony looked up to see Gibbs already sitting at his desk looking at something on the screen when Ziva came walking back through the bullpen.

 

“Miss David, whose balls get cut off if Ari’s not a Mossad mole, but a terrorist?” Tony took a drink of the warm beverage and was pleasantly surprised to see it made exactly how he liked it. Enough hazelnut cream to combat the bitterness of the coffee, it was perfect and he looked thoughtfully at his boss out of the corner of his eye.

 

“Mine, I suppose. Since I’m his control officer.” Tony had gotten very good at multitasking over the years. He sipped his coffee with one hand, scrolled the screen with the other, kept his ears on the conversation and watched Gibbs from the corner of his eye.  

 

“Ah, they promote control officers young in Mossad.”

 

“Have to, the good ones are dead at your age.” Gibbs looks mildly impressed by that.

 

“Do you know how I located Ari’s terrorist cell?”

 

“GPS fix off his encrypted cell phone. He wanted you to know the terrorists’ location so you could stop the missile instead of him, which would have necessitated blowing his cover,” Ziva said matter of factly.

 

Tony kept his eyes glued to the screen, “only an NSA satellite can GPS an encrypted phone. Ari didn’t know I had that asset.”

 

“You give him less credit than he gives you,” Ziva chuckled to herself. “Who hung up first? You or him? Ari knows a fix takes only 19 seconds. When Sharon visited Bush, Ari’s Hamas cell kidnapped Agent Todd. Why didn’t he kill her instead of freeing her to warn the secret service?”

 

“I don’t know,” Gibbs started snarling, “Why don’t you arrange a meet, and he can tell me?”

 

“Ari Haswari is a Mossad operative undercover in Hamas. He hasn’t turned on us or you.” There was something in her tone that made Tony think that this was not just another operative to this woman. Lover? Brother? “He didn’t kill Agent Todd.” 

 

Jenny stood from Kate’s desk and looked down at Gibbs, “Gibbs, even if you’re right, we owe them proof.”

 

“That’s all we ask,” Ziva added in as if they were their own tag team, Tony would have leaped to Gibbs defence if not for a couple reasons. 1) he wasn’t sure if Gibbs would appreciate it or not due to the newness of the Director before them. And 2) he honestly couldn’t think of anything to say in his defense. Sure, he wanted Ari dead too, but all they were asking for was adequate evidence, that wasn’t too bad, was it? “Don’t kill the wrong man.”

 

“Like Mossad did in Norway?” Gibbs asked challengingly. 

 

“That mistake cost us dearly,” Ziva’s tone turning low and defensive.

 

“Not as  _ dearly _ as the Palestinian waiter you killed.” Gibbs hard eyes stared at Ziva. Ziva’s eyes shuttered and looked to Jenny.  _ Is it wrong that I’m a little turned on?  _ Tony thinks to himself as he watches the powerplay before him.  

 

Jenny stepped forward, “Ziva, assure your deputy director that, even though Ari Haswari is a suspect, no action will be taken unless we have evidentiary proof.” Jenny looked pointedly at Gibbs, “Proof before action.” 

 

Tony watched the order hit Gibbs and knew that though Gibbs didn’t like it, it was a fair order. It was probably the only support they would get for their knowledge that Ari killed Kate. Gibbs looked like he wanted to growl as he got up and went down to Abby’s lab. Tony followed. 

 

They reached the elevator and Gibbs kept his voice low as he spoke softly into Tony’s ear. Tony kept his body relaxed, despite the fact that inside he wanted to turn his head to face the one so close to his own. Turn and just pull the other man in, but he had a job to do, and part of that was listening to orders.

 

“I want you on Ziva’s ass.”

 

Tony smirked cockily, “she’s not really my type, boss.” The hand came up like he planned. 

 

“To tail her,” Gibbs growled low.

 

“I knew that,” Tony finally turned to face Gibbs and stared into his eyes. He tried to show Gibbs that they didn’t need to be treated with kid gloves, they weren’t going anywhere. Tony wouldn’t let anything happen to the rest of the team, if that meant he had to subtly ward each member of his team and stretch his magic across five people, then fine. 

 

“She’s been in contact with Ari. It’s the only way she could know I hung up on him.” Gibbs turned to face the front of the elevator, 

 

“Ooh, I don’t want you to get pissed, but…”A thought had just occurred to him. 

 

“Thought you wanted me pissed,” Gibbs turned back and stared back at Tony.

 

“I did,” Tony softened his face, “you don’t need to treat us with kid gloves, boss. You can trust us. No one else on this team is going to die.”

 

Tony saw Gibbs’ shocked look cross his face before it was quickly hidden away, “You can’t promise that, Tony.” Gibbs’ voice thick with some unnamed emotion.

 

“Yes, I can,” Tony let a little bit of his power shine through his eyes as he stared at Gibbs, “No one else on this team is going to die.” 

 

He saw when Gibbs tried to fight the truth of his words, but the magic infused words reached Gibbs and his expression softened, “okay, Tony.” 

 

“Now, Ziva’s right, Ari knew you’d trace the call.” Tony spoke plainly.

 

Gibbs sighed as the elevator door opened, “Ari wanted me to raid the warehouse. Set me up. Cost Kate her life.” 

 

Gibbs had no warning, his face and body angled away from Tony, he couldn’t see the rage that had gripped Tony’s features before Gibbs’ jacket was grabbed and he was practically flung back into the elevator. The doors closed faster than Gibbs had ever seen them close. When he turned his head to glare at Tony he was shocked. The power in his eyes was back and Tony’s face was contorted with his own rage and grief.

 

“You were not the only one there, I was on that rooftop too. Ari shot at Kate because he knows  _ she _ was the best way to get to  _ all  _ of us,” Tony’s calm voice bellied the rage on Tony’s face. “ _ You _ might have been Ari’s target when he shot Kate, but you aren’t the only one left to pick up the pieces. Despite what you and this entire agency thinks,  _ you _ are  _ not _ all-knowing. It is  _ not _ your fault that Kate is dead, Gibbs.” Tony’s hand struck the elevator wall, right next to Gibbs’ head. Suddenly Tony was in his face, too close. “You hear me, boss. It is  _ not _ your fault.”

 

Tony was sure that Gibbs could hear the thundering of his heart as they stood together for a long moment, staring at each other. Finally Gibbs cleared his throat a little, “Okay, Tony. I hear you.”

 

Tony’s eyes searched Gibbs’ for a moment before he stepped back and the door of the elevator opened without either of them pushing a button. Gibbs left the elevator as Tony leaned against one of the walls, “I’ll go shadow Ziva, let you know if it leads me to Ari.” Gibbs didn’t look back.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He followed Ziva to her hotel where she casually made her way to the swimming pool. Tony was bored out of his mind, he was also annoyed that he wasn’t doing something more. He wished he could just slip her some Veritaserum and get the truth out of her that way, but no, that was illegal and he was a Feral Agent. Not that being a Mundane Federal Agent really meant anything in the Magical world. While he  _ could  _ theoretically get ahold of some and use it, hell he could just drop the name he was born with and all charges against him would be dropped in the magical world. 

 

Tony thought of Kate again and put his hand in his pants pocket, his thumb rubbing at his hip once more.  _ Just a quick conversation with the dead, what harm could there be? _ Tony shook his head and turned his attention back to Ziva, just in time for a petite little number to ask him to move. He pulled his most charming smile on and opened the door for her, taking note of the woman’s necklace. 

 

He watches her go into the locker room and turns his attention back to Ziva before pulling out his phone and telling Gibbs about the second woman. “I don’t believe in coincidences, Tony.”

 

Tony noted that Gibbs’ voice had a note of wariness to it, though with the static it was hard to detect, “I know boss, you’ve kind of beat that into me.”

 

“Haven’t I beat that into you?!” Gibbs had noticed the static as well.

 

“That’s what I said.”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“I said the reception sucks!” Tony was starting to get annoyed at the static, his magic didn’t normally interfere like this, but then again he  _ was _ upset and it was harder to get control of his emotions right now. 

 

“Stay with them! I’m on my way,” Gibbs spoke forcefully into the phone. 

 

Tony sighed, “What if they split up?”

 

“What about your gut?!”

 

Tony pursed his lips at the phone and spoke clearly into it, “It wants a pizza!” before he hung up. Annoyed. Tony watched the two apparent strangers have a conversation about the water while he took pictures of the new woman for McGee to look up later. He watched Ziva take the newcomer’s robe and quickly hid as Ziva made her way to the door. Tony waited until she had left up the elevators before sneaking into the pool area to check the robe that was left for the new woman. He found an envelope containing money, he quickly counted it and put it back as quickly as he could. He checked the other pocket and found a passport for Ari himself, but in french with the name Rene Saurel. He stared at Ari’s picture a moment too long and the woman called out to him. He quickly lied and began stripping out of his clothes to sell the lie. He got out of there as quick as he could, not bothering to buckle his pants before leaving. 

 

He went outside in the hopes of getting a better reception and called Gibbs. “Boss, can you hear me?” 

 

“Across the street.”

 

“Boss?”

 

Gibbs flashed his lights and Tony quickly made his way over there and as soon as he sat down he began reporting what he had found. “Ziva slipped a phony French passport and some cash,” Tony stopped to sniffle his nose from the rain. When he did so, there was a scent on the air that he recognized and craved, but continued, “to the, uh,” tried to continue. “The woman with the Star of David.” Tony took another long sniff, “the one I told you about.” Tony finally caught his breath and Gibbs silently handed him a pizza from the back seat. Tony looked at Gibbs’ profile and said in a very serious voice, “I love you, boss.” 

 

“How do you know the passport’s a fake?” Gibbs still had that wary tone in his voice, inwardly Tony frowned. 

 

“Ari’s photo, but not his name,” Tony opened the pizza box and stared down at his favorite toppings. Emotion constricted his chest. No one else had done this. Fed him at his request like this, it hadn’t even been a request. Then to have Gibbs get him his favorite toppings. If it weren’t for the wariness in Gibbs’ tone, it would have been a perfect moment. Tony sighed.

 

“Boss-”

 

“What name is he using?”

 

“Rene Saurel, now before you interrupt me again.” Tony paused and looked at his boss pointedly. Gibbs met his gaze and remained silent. “What happened in the elevator was a wake up call. No reason why anything should change.”

 

“What the hell was that Tony?” Gibbs kept his voice low despite the privacy of the car.

 

“Me, calling you out. Not your fault Kate died, I know that look. I’ve seen that look for years, Gibbs. People dying around you and you think it’s all your fault because you should have protected them ‘cause they were  _ your  _ responsibility. Took me a long time to realize that people die around you, doesn’t mean it’s your fault. Still struggle with that sometimes.”

 

“Tony-”

 

“Boss, leave it be. Back to normal, boss,” Tony didn’t say it as an order, but Gibbs dropped it anyway and called McGee to put an alert on Ari’s new passport. The mystery woman comes out of the hotel and Tony leaves Gibbs’ car with the pizza. Tony stands on the street a moment as he watches Gibbs drive off.  _ Hopefully I didn’t give too much away. He’s definitely suspicious now. _

 

Tony leans against the wall of the Hotel outside the door for a moment to get ahold of his grief. The pain of Kate’s loss hitting him out of nowhere, again. His thoughts turn once more to the Stone and he stares down at the pizza box thoughtfully till he hears a familiar feminine voice call to him.

 

“Espresso?” He sees a cup of coffee waved near his face. His eyes wander warily from Ziva to the coffee. “Take it. It’s not a bribe.”

 

“How long have you known I was-”

 

“Following me? Since I left the Navy Yard.” Tony tries to call her bluff, but then she starts spouting off details before he cuts her off and she offers the coffee again. He takes the coffee she didn't’ offer, causing her to chuckle. 

 

“You shouldn’t feel bad, I was trained by the best,” she says conversationally.

 

“You know, that’s what I like about Mossad.” Tony takes a few sips of the coffee, not bad, but not as sweet as he liked. 

 

“Our training?”

 

“Modesty,” he says sarcastically before going out from under the awning to throw away the pizza box.

 

“Um, there’s a slice in there,” he glares back at her annoyedly for a moment before turning back with said slice in hand. He regards her carefully as he offers her the last slice. 

 

She takes the slice with a “Toda.” 

 

He responds with a cocky, “Prego.”

 

They watch the rain for a moment before Ziva starts talking, “I lost my little sister, Tali, in a Hamas suicide bombing. She was 16 and the best of us.” Tony hears the emotion in Ziva’s voice and either she’s that good of an actor or she’s telling him the truth.  _ Why? Why is she telling me about her sister? Why try to connect with me? Now? Distraction? _ “Tali had compassion.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Tony tried to keep his voice sympathetic, but even he heard the wariness in his voice.

 

“After Tali’s death, I was like Gibbs. All I wanted was revenge.” Ah, the revenge angle. Too bad for her Gibbs has been on Ari’s tail since he had showed up in their Autopsy, two years ago.

 

“Is that why you joined Mossad?” Tony felt his jaw starting to clench as if his tongue wished to betray him and defend Gibbs rather than gain intel.

 

“I was Mossad long before Tali’s death. Old-”

 

“Family tradition?”

 

“Israeli sense of duty.” Her eyes narrowed at him in mild annoyance.

 

“So, come on. Who recruited you? Father? Uncle? Brother? Boyfriend?”

 

“Aunt? Sister? Lesbian lover?”

 

Tony chuckles at her tease, “you’re good. You almost got me off the question.” Tony leaned forward conspiratorially, “almost.”

 

“I volunteered,” Ziva smirked at him before placing her empty cup on top of his and walking back inside with the pizza slice and a “Laila Tov.” Tony stares out into the night as he hears the doors shut behind him. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs went after ‘Ari’ with Jen that night. They shot and killed the man which all evidence pointed to as Kate’s killer. Tony could tell that Gibbs was walking through a daze as he made his rounds, gathering information. They all watch him as Jenny completes the team’s report and informs them of Kate’s funeral in Indiana, tomorrow afternoon. Tony keeps his eyes glued to the file in front of him while glancing at the room around him. Gibbs at his desk in a daze, trying to piece everything together. Ziva all but smirking at the entrance to the bullpen. Abby worriedly wringing her hands. McGee swallowing back his own grief at Jenny’s words. 

 

“SecNav has offered his private jet to fly us there. Go home. Get some rest.” the team glance as one to Gibbs who nods his agreement, almost brokenly. Tony bites back his anger and sits down at his desk and begins to slowly gather his things. He subtly listens to Jenny’s talk with Gibbs, trying to convince him this Muhamad guy was their shooter. Gibbs and Tony knew otherwise. Gibbs because of his gut, Tony because of his magical senses. There are times he wonders if Gibbs is a wizard himself, but dismisses it. He would have known by now.

 

Tony makes his way down to Autopsy, hoping for a moment alone with Kate. He had finally decided to have that last conversation and wanted it to be near her body, he didn’t want to have to explain to Kate that she was dead. He grimaced at that thought before catching sight of Tim. He watched as Tim pulled Kate out of the cooler and slowly pulled the sheet back.

 

“Told you she looked good.” Tony just barely keeping his voice even. “Probie wouldn’t believe me, Kate. Thought you’d look like Return of the Living Dead.” 

 

“Did not,” Tim whispers.

 

“Don’t lie to the dead, McGee. Not nice.” Tony waited patiently for McGee to speak his peace.

 

Tim began nodding nervously, “I was a little afraid.”

 

“Kid was terrified.” Tony whispered to Kate’s corpse, “but it took a lot of guts to come down here, alone. Showed how much he cared for you.”

 

“I really did like you, Kate,” McGee whispers brokenly to her. “A lot.” They pulled the sheet back over her body and Tony heard Ducky shut the door. Tony nods for Tim to give him a moment with Kate. Tim left and Tony was alone. 

 

He moved his magic around his body and put his hand in his pocket before pulling the hem of his pants down slightly to reveal a tattoo in the hollow of his hip, right next to a lightning bolt scar. He ran his thumb across the tat and willed for one of the three objects forth. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held an obsidian stone. It was perfectly cut into the shape of an eight sided dice. He opened his hand and it floated above his hand a moment before it began slowly spinning. 

 

He thought of Kate and on the third turn of the stone, Tony felt a displacement in the air. He didn’t have to turn around to know that she had appeared. He swallowed, he didn’t know if he felt relief or more anxiety now that it was confirmed the Resurrection Stone worked on Mundanes as well. 

 

“Hey Tony,” Kate’s voice called out, “Or should I call you Harry Potter.”


	2. Mind Games

_ No one else on this team is going to die. _ That had been Tony’s vow to Gibbs after Kate’s death. He had infused magic with the vow and was thusly bound by it. No one, not Tim, not Abby, not Ducky, and not Paula Cassidy. Despite her temporary assignment, she was on their team. Period. Cassidy had pulled up the file of Kyle Boone after hearing that Gibbs was supposed to interview the bastard in order to find the bodies of his victims. 

 

“I will never forget the day that Gibbs caught this Psycho,” she shivered at the memory.

 

Tony cocked his head curiously at his fellow agent, “You knew Gibbs back then?”

 

She looked back at Tony with a mildly annoyed look, “No, I was a junior at Georgetown. And after two years, every woman in DC was afraid to go out at night.”

 

“Must’ve been tough,” Tony places his completed report on Gibbs’ desk and stood next to Cassidy. “You still have that pen I gave you?”

 

She pulled the pen out of her shirt pocket and clicked it angrily at him, “Yeah, Tony, I still have your pen. You want it back? You ask about it often enough.”

 

Tony shrugged, “just making sure you don’t lose it. Member of our team has to always be prepared.” Unbeknownst to Cassidy, Tony had spelled the pen with certain enchantments. He had done the same for the rest of his team. Tim got a watch that he wore every day. Gibbs had anonymously gotten a wallet that Tony felt the magic of on Gibbs’ person every day as well. 

 

Cassidy rolled her eyes at his antics before she turned back to their earlier conversation. “I actually owe Gibbs for the first full night of sleep I got in college.”

 

“I meant dating,” Tony turned the conversation light after seeing the darkness of fear in Cassidy’s eyes.

 

She scowled at him, “yes, yes, dating was tough.”

 

“Need any help with that now, Paula?” he uselessly flirted.

 

“No, Tony, no thank you,” she said just a little too quick. “I’ve been there and I’ve done that.”

 

Tony laughs at her reaction, “ouch.”

 

“Your problem with women is where you’re focused.” Her blonde curls bouncing as she nodded seriously.

 

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, “Oh, and where is that?”

 

She reached past him to her purse resting on Gibbs’ desk, humming thoughtfully. She placed a small circular container in his hand, “Here, it’s a mirror.”

 

He successfully kept the smirk off his face at the beginning, “quick question. The pink ones.” Her eyes widened comically. “Do they taste like strawberry starburst? I thought you said you weren’t seeing anyone.”

 

“I’m not,” she quickly corralled him to backing into his desk. She made a weak willed grab for the pills. “It’s for my complexion.”

 

“Complexion got a name?” He leaned forward pushing for an answer.

 

“Tony, you so don’t want to go there.” She made another grab for it.

 

“Just tell me it’s not another agent, ‘cause I really don’t think I can-” she chose that moment to strike and expertly twirled him face down onto his desk, his arm painfully behind his back. He let out an oh so manly shriek. 

 

“His name’s Bob, and he’s a lawyer,” she rested her weight on his back for a moment. 

 

“What a coincidence, I hate lawyers.” Tony grunted out. 

 

“I know, so do I,” Cassidy spoke in his ear, as if she couldn’t believe it either. “That’s why it’s purely a sexual relationship.”

 

“Well, what would that make me?” Tony felt Tim approach, and held back his smirk.

 

“A big mistake,” she jerked his arm and continued, “if you do not give me my birth control pills, I’m going to break your arm.” She grabbed the pills and turned to face Tim.

 

Tony had to point out, “in my defense, you handed them to me.”

 

Cassidy glared at him before turning to McGee, “Have you been there long?”

 

“Uh, long enough so say, ‘no, ma’am, Agent Cassidy.’” Tim kept both hands on the coffee cup in his hands. 

 

“Okay, good answer,” she nodded to McGee before letting Tony up from her restraint. 

 

Tony rubbed at his shoulder as McGee asked about Boone. The gave the probie the full story of how Gibbs had caught the guy and despite being scheduled for execution on Saturday, managed to get the ear of quite a few people. Boone wanted Gibbs to interview him, one last time. Gibbs walked up and Tony noted the immediate hostility that came about.

 

“What the hell is that doing on my screen?”Gibbs moved McGee out of his way.

 

“I didn’t put it there, boss,” McGee immediately defends.

 

“Who did, McGee?” Gibbs rounded on him. Tony winced at the pointedness of that steely glare zeroed in on McGee. 

 

“Probie, let me handle this,” Tony to the rescue, “Boss, she did it.”

 

Gibbs turned from the team and threw Cassidy’s purse from his desk to the floor. Cassidy stepped forward and talked about how Gibbs was supposed to interview Boone. Gibbs speaks of his blatant refusal to talk to Boone. Cassidy quipps back and Tony is glad that she has the balls to do so, the chick on the team has to have those kinds of balls. 

 

“Find her a desk,” Gibbs tells Tony as he walks up to MTAC.

 

“Is that one-” Cassidy points to Kate’s desk. 

 

“No, it’s taken,” Gibbs responds before leaving the bullpen. 

 

Cassidy stands there for a moment, “a whole week of TAD with Gibbs. I can smell the fun already.”

 

“Well, it’s been a tough month,” McGee looks through the papers on his desk. 

 

Tony looked to Cassidy sympathetically, “right now he pretty much hates everyone, Paula. Including himself.” 

 

Cassidy starts settling in at the desk behind McGee and is having difficulty with the chair when Tony comes over, “Well, look at the bright side.”

 

“What is the bright side?”

 

“You’re only here a week.” he answers helpfully. 

 

Cassidy looks back at Kate’s desk, “why couldn’t I sit at Kate’s desk?”

 

“Mostly, because it’s still Kate’s desk,” defensiveness creeping into his voice. 

 

Her voice softened, “she was a great agent.” Tony adds his agreement, “how are you handling it?” 

 

_ Pretty well, I talked to her while she was still in autopsy, using this stone I have access through a tattoo on my hip _ . 

 

“Same way I handle everything- try not to think about it.”

 

Cassidy nods understandingly, “and when that doesn’t work?”

 

_ I write a letter to my godson, Teddy, which helps.  _

 

“There’s always junk food.” he says flippantly.

 

The power of her eye roll is such that her whole head had to roll, “that doesn’t sound very healthy, Tony.”

 

“It’s either that or I start building a boat in my basement.” He smiles at her sarcastically, attempting to get her off the topic. 

 

It worked, “Did you move from your apartment?”

 

“No, now you see my dilemma.” He got up to go back to his desk.

 

“Hey, if you ever do want to talk about it, I’m here for you,” her hand warm on his wrist. “Okay?”

 

“You mean that?” he looked down curiously at her.

 

“Yes, of course I mean that.”

 

He squat next to her chair, “Okay. Well, then, let me ask you something. What’s Bobbie like in bed?”

 

Cassidy shook her head, “Kate was right. You are truly, truly pathetic, DiNozzo.”

 

“Uh, you two might want to get busy. Gibbs’ headed this way and he looks pissed,” McGee peeked around their corner.

 

“Think he caved to the governor?” Cassidy asked. 

 

“No way,” Tim and Tony responded in stereo as Tony peeked over the top of the dividers. Tim continued, “if Gibbs doesn’t want to do something, he doesn’t.” 

 

“SecNav ordered,” Tony whispered thoughtfully as Gibbs went to his desk, pulled his piece out and clipped it to his belt. Tim asks Gibbs where he’s going and from his tone, Tony can tell that Gibbs is passed pissed and into that calm rage stage. 

 

“Yep, you two sure have him pegged,” Cassidy says sarcastically to them.

 

“Actually, I think Tony got it right, there was a call into MTAC from SecNav just a few minutes after the governor’s call.” Tim speaks as his fingers fly across the keyboard. Tony moved to his desk before getting up and heading for Abby’s lab. 

 

“Hey, Abs!” Tony called out when he arrived. 

 

“Tony! Did you hear?” Tony looked behind her to see the security footage from the prison already on her screens.

 

“Yeah, Abs, I see you’re a step ahead of me, as usual.” His eyes zeroed in on the collar she wore today. “I see you’re wearing my present, glad you like it Abs.”

 

“Yeah, still can’t believe you found a local witch to enchant it.” Tony grinned and ducked his head. He had crafted the enchantment around a collar for her, help protect her. He wasn’t going to lose her like he lost Kate. No one on the team is going to die. 

 

“Do we have audio?” Tony nodded to the screen where Gibbs had just appeared. 

 

“No, but I can read lips and I know you’ve been practicing.” They watch as Boone teases about Gibbs’ Marriages and Kate. Tony heads back up to the Bullpen to expect Gibbs’ call when Boone tells him about the scrapbook. He sees Ducky talking with Tim and Cassidy, telling them about how Gibbs was when Boone came about. The expected call happens and Gibbs is his normal grouchy self, telling them to meet him at the Boone family farm. Specifically asking for Cassidy to be there. 

 

“Difference between ten years ago and today, Ducky?” Tony cocks his gun before continuing, “we have Gibbs’ back.”

 

“There’s another difference. Tony,” Ducky called after them, “Ten years go, Gibbs was a very different man.” Tony jerked his head for Ducky to continue.  “He was...he was a lot like you.” Tony raised an eyebrow after Ducky. 

 

They arrive at the farm house and Gibbs walks out nonchalantly. He doesn’t say anything, but some up to Cassidy and starts measuring, “I can save you time Gibbs. My measurements are 34-”

 

“26-34. 120 pounds. I’m right, aren’t I?” Tony raises an eyebrow in coy challenge.

 

“Did you weight and measure me in my sleep,” Cassidy looks to Tony, incredulous. 

 

“I’m a crime-scene sketch expert. It’s what I do.” Tony says dramatically.

 

“You’ll do,” Gibbs says as if their conversation hadn’t happened. 

 

“Gibbs, again, you have such a way of making a girl feel special.” He hands her a mask to cover her face and calls for McGee to wear knee pads.

 

They go to the back of the truck to get their gear, “do we even have kneepads?” McGee asks. 

 

“Equipment inventory’s Kate’s job. You might want to ask-”  _ Shit _ . Tony silently turns from the truck and Tim makes sure to take that over once they get back to base. Tony heads for the house and begins looking through the house. “This place must have been gone over a dozen times, boss. No way there’s any bodies in here.”

 

“Not looking for bodies, Tony. Boone was raised here by his uncle. His mother was a prostitute, she left town when he was 12.”

 

“Then what are we looking for boss,” Tony kept his gaze firmly away from the doorway under their stairs, he knew it to be a cupboard since the basement access was elsewhere. 

 

“Proof. Boone swears it's here and the only place we didn’t look is inside this chimney.” Tony nods as Cassidy fishes inside said chimney, making sure to add chimneys to his list of things to check when clearing a house of evidence. For ten years they hadn’t found that book, all because no one thought to look in the chimney. 

 

“I think I got something,” Cassidy calls out from inside the chimney. “Nope. That’s just another dead bird.” 

 

A thud and a dead pidgeon lands next to McGee’s hand. “Oh, that’s disgusting.”   
  


“Bet this wasn’t in the brochure when you signed up for NCIS, probie.” Tony teased a little, smirking at the smirk sent his way by Gibbs. 

 

“You know, you were wrong earlier,” Tony fights back the wince at the path McGee’s tone indicates, “she weighs more than a buck 20.” Suddenly her flashlight lands on McGee’s head and Tony doesn’t bother fighting the smile off his face. 

 

“She did that on purpose,” McGee whines and hangs his head, hiding Gibbs and Tony from his view. Tony sees Gibbs lightly chuckle and nods his agreement. 

 

“Oh, no, I got- it’s right here by the flue. I got it. Okay, I’m coming down.” Cassidy steps off of McGee’s back, who sighs in relief, then grunts as her foot slips and she sits down on McGee’s back heavily. “Sorry,” she says unapologetically. “Looks like a book.” 

 

Tony starts his picture taking as Gibbs unwraps and opens the book. Cassidy speculates 30 pages, Tony knows it’s more. Tim asks about the heart on their backs and Tony worries a little at Gibbs’ tone. They bag and tag the book and Gibbs says he’s going back to see Boone. Tony tells McGee to head back and goes to sit in Gibbs’ car. Gibbs sits down in the driver’s seat and turns to face him.

 

“Tony, what are you doing?” 

 

“Watching your six, boss,” Tony gives him a pointed look. Gibbs nods and starts the car. They drive in silence to Sussex State Prison. They arrive there and Kyle is already being interviewed, by his biographer.  _ Seriously?! What is wrong with people that they would want to read about sick fucks like that. Ugh.  _

 

They buzz in and Kyle calls Gibbs, Jethro, it sends unpleasant shivers through Tony for this fucker to have that kind of assumed familiarity with Gibbs. “You find it alright, Jethro, I guess you wouldn't be here if you didn’t. I don’t believe you’ve met my biographer, John Briggs.” Tony casts a withering glare at the man that closely resembles a drowned weasel. 

 

“Special Agent Gibbs,” weasel man comes and tries to stand close to Gibbs’ back, only for Tony to stand in his way. Weasel-man glanced to Tony, then back at Gibbs, “It is a pleasure. I’ve been trying to schedule an interview with you for months.” 

 

Tony smirks at him, “Is that right? Well, you’re not going to get that interview today, time to be off now. Mommy and Daddy have to talk.” 

 

Tony made a shooing motion with his hands. The warden stepped forward as Boone and Gibbs stared each other down. “You’re going to have to leave now, Briggs.”

 

“I’ve been granted special permission by the state of Virginia to be here, Warden,” Briggs whines while staring at Gibbs reverently, over Tony’s shoulder. 

 

“Not anymore,” Tony moves so Briggs can’t see Gibbs without moving also. 

 

“Next time you see Boone, he’ll have a thunderbolt shooting out of his ass.” Tony’s lips twitched at Gibbs’ statement. 

 

“Hey, I was...I was guaranteed full access for the next three days.” Briggs started getting pissy, but at least he was focusing on the Warden instead of Gibbs for the moment. 

 

Tony pulled out his Power Stare, “The Warden asked you to leave. Don’t make him ask you again.”

 

“Call back your attack dog, Gibbs,” Boone’s voice grated across Tony’s shoulders. “It’s okay John, they’ve finally gotten a glimpse into the world I’ve been telling Gibbs about.”

 

“Scrapbook?” Briggs looked like a dog that had suddenly caught a scent. “You found his scrapbook? When- when will it be released?” Briggs headed back towards Gibbs, again intercepted by Tony. Briggs glared at Tony, thoroughly annoyed. 

 

“Son, if you want to walk out of here under your own power, I suggest you leave now.” The warden handed Briggs his things. Tony didn’t turn his back on Briggs till the door had shut, then he moved to sit on the bench on the side of the room and stared at the wall in front of him, blatantly ignoring the conversation to his left. 

 

“So this is your second in command? What ever happened to Stan?” Gibbs stared at him, silently. “John really is a wonderful writer. You know, he’s spent years trying to understand me. Unfortunately, he just never seemed to measure up.”

 

“To who?” Gibbs responded to the ramble, incredulous. “Your prostitute mom? Or your father? Some hick John with a few extra bucks in his pocket.”

 

Tony saw Boone look to Gibbs and the expression on his face made Tony’s insides go cold. “Actually, I was referring to you, Jethro.” He truly felt that Gibbs fully and completely understood Boone. 

 

“Show’s over. Where’s the dumping ground?”

 

“You show me my scrapbook one last time and I’ll draw you a map even a Marine can follow.” Something struck a chord with Tony at that, why the insistence to see the scrapbook all of a sudden. 

 

“No, they’ve suffered enough.”

 

“Well, we’re at an impasse.” 

 

Gibbs sighed in annoyance, “you’re going to keep playing this game with me, Boone?”

 

“I’ve never considered any of this a game Jethro. You know that.” Boone’s eyes wide and trying to convey sincerity.

 

Tony snorted as Gibbs waved it off, “whatever. I’m changing the rules.”

 

“How so?”

 

“I’ve seen your world. Now you’re going to spend what’s left of your miserable life in mine.” Gibbs turns his back and Tony falls into step behind him, perfectly in sync. Tony calls for McGee to prep everything for them. Gibbs drives while Tony smiles in glee at the chance to yell at some probationary field agents. One of his favorite things to do. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Alright, listen up, my little probationary field agents.” Tony paced in front of the probies doing a mild rendition of a drill sergeant. “You’re about to witness the transfer of a maximum security prisoner to our humble facility. While he’s here, he’s our sole responsibility.” One of the probie’s yawned. Per his role, Tony had to say something about it, “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I boring you?”

 

“My god, does he ever stop,” Cassidy griped to McGee. Due to the echo of the garage, Tony heard every word. 

 

“I’m just glad it’s not me,” good Probie, let them dig their own grave. Tony continued his routine until hitting the button to open the garage door. The probies march to their little spots, Tony’s glad this batch of probies didn’t need him to put x’s on the ground. Tony is by the doors when they open and signs off on the paperwork as Boone steps out of the back of the van. 

 

“I knew I could count on you, Jethro,” Boone smiles as he looks around the garage. “It's good to be home again.”  _ No, this place is not your home. Before you leave, you will no longer think of this place as home. _ Tony glares after Boone and organizes the shifts for watching Boone.  _ It’s good to have Probies. _ Tony thinks to himself as he drives home that night. 

 

Pulling onto his familiar street, parking in his familiar spot, he looks up and down the street a moment. He’s been here four years now. He’s already doubled his standard time of sticking in one place, but he can’t bring himself to leave. This place is starting to feel like home, not just his apartment, but NCIS, Gibbs, Abby, Tim, Ducky, hell, even the Autopsy Gremlin had his own sort of charm. He breathed deep and headed up to his apartment. 

 

He ran on autopilot as he shut the door and locked it before tossing his keys to the table next to the door. He pulled his clothes off his tired body and groaned as his right arm twinged. Apparently regrowing your whole arm makes it feel like a mass of throbbing acheyness whenever it rains, even if it’s only a light sprinkle. He turned to the bathroom and started the water on hot. He stripped out of his clothes and groaned in pleasure at the delicious heat that pounded away at his back. 

 

He quickly washed the grime of the day from his body and paused a bit over all his scars. Some were from his years as a cop, some were from his time at NCIS, some were from his Hogwarts years, the rest were from Dudley. He stared down at his body, it had taken a few years of nutrition potions to fix the damage from the Dursleys. The scar from his forehead had been moved to his hip, right next to a tattoo of the Deathly Hallows. His thumb ran across both scars as he remembered those lost to him for a moment.

His parents, taken from him before he could even remember them. The chance for them to raise him stolen from them by a terrorising megalomaniac hellbent on world domination.  _ Would I even be here if they had lived? Would I have met Gibbs? Shit, I wonder what Dad and Sirius think of  _ that _? Wouldn’t that be quite the conversation: Hey guys, so I’m in love with my boss who is actually around your age, but it’s not so bad, right I mean I went back in time and aged a few more years so the age difference really isn’t  _ that  _ much. _

 

Yeah, Tony really didn’t want to imagine that conversation. Through Kate he knew that his mom knew about his unrequited love. She didn’t care so long as he was happy. He could just imagine the jokes that Severus would throw at his father and godfather over this. 

 

“Sorry guys, heart wants what it wants,” he said aloud. 

 

“Why  _ do _ you love him, Tony,” Kate’s voice called out. Tony’s head jerked down and he saw the Stone in his hand and a greyed out visage of Kate stood before him. In his shower. Tony closed his eyes and tried to calm down his racing heart.

 

“I’m sorry, Kate, I didn’t mean-” 

 

“Shut up, Tony, you were thinking about the dead. Any one of us could have come. They voted me.” She gave him her teasing smirk. She wasn’t so quick to true anger now that she was dead. 

 

“ _ They _ ?” 

 

“Your family, those you’ve lost, God, I’m so sorry, Tony. Why don’t you tell me about it?”

 

“About what? Those I’ve lost because of some lost wizard who turned dark because  _ daddy _ wasn’t there to save the day. He’s not the only one that had a rough childhood. I slept in a closet, Kate. For ten years. I slept on a cot in the cupboard under the stairs. The only reason they moved me to  _ Dudley’s Second Bedroom _ ,” his voice indicating that it was still referred as such, even after he had moved in. “was because my school letter was addressed as such. 

 

“Or maybe I should talk about those that I myself have killed, see first there was Quirrell, my teacher. Granted he was trying to kill me first, but still.  _ I  _ killed him. I saw what my touch did to him and  _ I _ decided to kill him. I was eleven years old Kate. You know what Dumbledore told me after that. He said that it was my mother’s love that had protected me. I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but it was the only thing I had. If it was love that had killed Quirrell, then surely he was a bad guy, so he should have died, right? 

 

“My fourth year I saw one of my classmates murdered in front of me, 14.  _ ‘Kill the spare’ _ That was the order, that’s exactly what he was too. That’s all Cedric was to Riddle. A spare. A body. An inconvenience. That’s how Ari saw you, Kate. A tool. A means to an end. You weren’t even a person to him, Kate.” Tony knew he had tears streaming down his face, he knew the water from the showerhead disguised the tears. He knew Kate saw the tears. She didn’t say anything, but tears were streaming down her face as well. 

 

“After Ced it felt like people were dropping like flies around me. My godfather, then my mentor, then a massive battle for my life. Bam. Sirius. Bam. Dumbledore. Bam. Hedwig. Bam. Moody. Bam. Ted Tonks. My godson’s grandfather. Then finally, two years after Sirius’ death. Peter Pettigrew died. The man responsible for my parents’ death and Sirius’ imprisonment, dead. Then Dobby, the elf who tried to save my life because of stories he had heard about me. Then the battle. Bam. Crabbe kills himself with fiendfyre. Bam. Explosion kills Arthur Weasley. A man that had taken me in and treated as his own. Bam. Remus Lupin. The last tie I had to my parents. The father of my godson. Kate, he named me the godfather of his son, Theodore Tonks. We call him Teddy.”

 

“Sounds to me like he’s important to you.”

 

“He’s the only thing I’ll go back to Britain for,” Tony swallows. “I’d defy Gibbs for Teddy.”

 

Kate rose her eyebrows, impressed, “wow, Tony. Kind of hard to picture all of this with you. Your mask was impressive. You think you still need it?”

 

“What? Of course, I can’t just come out as Harry Potter.”

 

“That’s not what I mean,” Kate looked at him seriously.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Let the mask drop, let Gibbs in, let Abby in, which brings me back to my original question. Why do you love Gibbs?” Kate looked at his face, searchingly.

 

“I trust him, I trust him to have my six, no matter what. He’s got it. If i were to go off and do something he would follow my lead, just like I follow his. He says jump and I’m already in the air. He’s stubborn to the point of obsession. Kate, when he loves, he loves deeply. It’s been years, but I’ll bet you he still has Kelly’s room exactly as it was the day she died.” Kate nodded guiltily. “See, I want that, I want that kind of love, and damnit I guess those baby blue do it for me, Kate.” 

 

“Then let him see you, maybe he’ll let you in,” Kate offers, her face hopeful.

 

Tony turns off the water and reaches for the towel outside the shower. His face remains carefully blank as he thinks over her meaning.  _ Maybe I should let down a few walls. Maybe just Abby and Gibbs _ . Tony frowned,  _ but that would mean admitting to quite a few lies, they’re gonna be pissed about that, maybe tell one at a time.  _ Tony makes the decision to talk with Abby as soon as this Boone thing is dealt with, they could have a Truth night. Tony yawned, it had been a long day. 

 

“I’ll let you sleep on it, maybe they’ll hold the answer to your dilema,” Kate said sarcastically with a smile. Tony chuckled and collapsed onto his bed.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It wasn’t a vision, at least not the kind he was used to. It held a different feel to it than a normal dream, and it was definitely different from any that Riddle had sent him. Whatever it was, it was pleasant, more than pleasant. It was bliss. Emerald green stared into weathered bright blue. Hands that normally slapped, now caressed the back of his head and pulled him in. Their lips meshed together as hands wandered and clothing was pulled. 

 

Tony knew they were standing in Gibbs’ basement, he knew it wasn’t real, but it was so good. It felt so right, the hand that wasn’t cradling his head was slowly, sensuously, grazing his flank through the thin cotton shirt. Tony’s on the other hand held desperation as they pulled themselves beneath the faded USMC sweater. Gibbs pulled back as fingertips found flesh, as if he had finally registered what Tony was doing. 

 

“Please, boss, need” Tony begged brokenly, not even sure what he was begging for. Just knowing he needed Gibbs, any way he could have him. 

 

“What, Tony, what do you need?” Gibbs’ eyes bore into his, hands that had caressed, now held Tony imobile. 

 

“You.”

 

Gibbs’ eyes darkened at the answer, “you sure, Tony? You need  _ me _ ? How much of me?”

 

“All,” Tony’s eyes bore into Gibbs, he had seen the callouses on Gibbs’ hands. No way some of those calluses were from building boats. The darkness in Gibbs’ eyes pulled at Tony, called to him really. “Please, boss, I’m yours, boss.” 

 

Gibbs groaned at Tony’s words and Tony’s senses were suddenly overwhelmed as Gibbs’ lips crashed back down over his own. Strong hands moving Tony’s hands from his body and slowly wrapping them behind Tony’s back. One hand held Tony’s hands behind his back and pulled his body flush with Gibbs’. The hand tightened on his wrists and Tony gasped as Gibb’s mouth moved from his and attached itself to his neck. He nibbled up and down Tony’s neck as Gibbs’ free hand pinched roughly at Tony’s nipples.  _ Where did my clothes go? Oh yeah, notdream, right _ . Tony groaned at the sensations and knew that he would have trouble holding on if Gibbs’ continued down this path.

 

Tony threw his head back and groaned so loud, he was sure the neighbors would have heard if they had existed here. Gibbs had just bit down on Tony’s shoulder savagely and was currently sucking and nibbling at the spot. If it were possible, Tony felt himself harden even more so. 

 

Gibbs pulled back and looked down at the mark, catching a glimpse of Tony’s straining length. “Like that, did you?” Tony shuddered at the dark promises in Gibbs’s tone. 

 

At Tony’s silence, Gibbs head-slapped him, hard. “I asked you a question, DiNozzo.” 

 

“Yes, boss, I liked it,” Tony gasped as Gibbs’ hand left Tony’s, but rope magically replaced it. 

 

“What did you like?” Tony had a passing thought of maybe Gibbs is a functional mute because his very voice causes bystanders to cum in their pants. Cause it would, if he talked like this all the time.    
  


“You, marking me, Boss,” Tony gasped out and Gibbs pressed himself against Tony and Tony felt the wall at his back. Gibbs moved so his lips just barely caressed Tony’s ear. His clothed body sending jolts through Tony’s naked one. Heat built in Tony’s gut and he struggled to hold himself still as Gibbs talked. 

 

“You will not move, you will talk, describe everything I’m doing, everything I’m making you feel,” Gibbs’ whispered caress caused goosebumps across the back of Tony’s neck. 

 

“Yes, boss, right now I’m feeling like I could come just from you doing that boss,” Tony panted out.

 

“Doing what, Tony, remember, describe,” Gibbs’ velvety voice wrapped around Tony and held him still despite what his body wanted to do. 

 

“Fuck! That, whispering in my ear thing you’re doing,” Tony rested his head against the wall behind him, whimpering as Gibbs moved back. Tony opened his eyes and watched Gibbs staring at him till reaching into a locker under the stairs in Gibbs’ basement. The light glinted on the metal chain that connected two twin clamps. Tony’s mouth watered at the sight of the nipple clamps. His cock twitched in anticipation. 

 

Gibbs just raised an eyebrow and slowly, methodically attached them to his nipples, watching Tony’s face intently as he adjusted the tightness. Gibbs stopped just as he reached the cusp of aching. Tony was surprised by the pleasant pain he felt, the first having taken him by surprise, this time he analysed that maybe this was the difference from a normal dream that he had felt. 

 

“Oh, Merlin, yes, boss, the- ungh, the nipple clamps ache,” Tony moaned loudly as Gibbs’ finger pressed lightly on the chain. “Oh, boss, so good. You pulling on the chain, boss, please.”

 

“Please, what, DiNozzo.” Gibbs purred in his ear, the clothes brushing against his pinched and sensitive nippples. 

 

“Fuck me, let me suck you off, please, let me bring you pleasure,” Tony whimpered as Gibbs once again pulled away for a moment. “Please, boss.” Tony smoothly sank to his knees, not feeling the concrete beneath them. “Please, boss, let me please you,” Tony’s eyes darkened with lust looked up at Gibbs. Pleading. 

 

Gibbs seemed to be warring with himself,  _ why? This is just some crazy dream with added features, right?  _ All thought left Tony as Gibbs moved forward once more and caressed his head once more. Tony’s world narrowed down to the man before him. The man who had never let him down, the man who had looked at him and saw something there. The man who had seen him for who  _ he _ was, not just a name. Not a tool. He was just Tony to Gibbs. 

 

“Open,” Gibbs’ thumb caressed the length of his tongue and Tony closed his eyes at the taste. The taste of Gibbs. Even just his thumb running across his tongue was enough for Tony to moan wantonly and though he didn’t see it, Gibbs looked to be losing the war from earlier and seemed to be giving in to something. A few more strokes and Gibbs removed his thumb from Tony’s mouth. He kept his mouth open without Gibbs having to say anything.

 

Though he kept his eyes closed, he knew the next appendage to enter his mouth was the object of his want. Gibbs’ cock was hard and filled his mouth with a fullness that made his ass tingle in anticipation. He relaxed his throat and moved his tongue across every bit of skin he could reach. He heard Gibbs groan above him, but kept still and didn’t move his head till Gibbs’ hand cradled the back of his head. Then Gibbs’ hips began moving the cock in and out of Tony’s waiting mouth. Tony moaned around the cock in his mouth and exhaled through his nose when he felt the cock hit the back of his throat. 

 

Tony’s moan became a whine as Gibbs hips sped up slightly. Tony’s own hips undulating in response, “you could cum from this, couldn’t you?” Tony thought he heard a note of wonder buried beneath the lust-filled huskiness. Tony moaned/hummed the affirmative. “Cum, Tony, cum with my cock in your mouth.” 

 

Tony moaned around the cock in his mouth as his hips jerked, causing his head to spasm in time with Gibb’s thrusts. He thrust once more into Tony’s waiting mouth, Tony’s throat moving to swallow the cum that seemed to even taste delicious and Tony moaned again. The stimulation to Gibbs’ oversensitized cock made him jerk out of Tony’s mouth, spraying a stream across Tony’s face. Tony suddenly wished this wasn’t a dream and he could take a picture at the unfiltered bliss across Gibbs’ face. Then a picture of the dark possessiveness on Gibbs’ face when he looked down at Tony. 

 

“You’re mine, Tony,” Gibb’s hand caressed the side of his face.

 

“Only, yours, boss,” came the known reply.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Intense, cobalt blue eyes snapped open. The first full breath of the day and Gibbs already knew what the wetness surrounding his crotch was.  _ Damnit, thought I was too old for dreams like that _ . He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before resigning himself to the inevitable. He stripped the bed on autopilot as he let his thoughts wander. It disturbed him how  _ real _ the dream had felt, as if he and Tony had shared some kind of dreamscape play room.  _ Maybe it’s been too long, I would think about going back, but I feel satisfied. God, if only that had been real _ . 

 

Gibbs sat and drank his coffee for a long moment, replaying the dream in his mind. His cock twitched in interest, but he kept his feelings toward the dream analytical for now. It wasn’t the first time he had dreamt of the man, if this was any indications, this dream wouldn’t be the last one where he dreamt of Tony. He ran a hand through his hair and hung his head low over his coffee mug. It was empty, he needed a refill. 

 

This dream had felt different from the ones before hand. In this dream, Tony had talked about his voice, that was different. The Tony of his dreams had never mentioned his voice,  _ maybe that’s because I really don’t think about my voice all that much _ .  _ Does that mean Tony does?  _ Gibbs shook his head at that latest thought. It’s not like someone could have magically linked their dreams.  _ Could they? _ Gibbs growled at himself. He was getting dangerously close to the realm of fantasy again. 

 

He looked at the clock before grabbing his keys. He automatically picked up the wallet that rested next to his keys. He paused for a moment today, the wallet was warm. It always was, it was warm and  _ felt _ like Tony, which was ridiculous.  _ How could a wallet feel like a person? _ He ran his thumb across the Marine Corp. symbol, carefully embossed into the leather. He blinked himself out of his thoughts and put the wallet in his pocket, his chest feeling lighter after it was in place. 

 

Familiarity. Security. Safety. Things he hadn’t felt since before Shannon. Even being able to think her name without the debilitating pain through his soul. He knows exactly when things had started to change. Tony. Tony had started all of this.  _ “Freeze, dirtbag! You can’t outrun me; I’m wearing tube socks! _ A smile came unbidden to Gibbs’ face. He remembered the feel of the pavement beneath his feet for a moment as he drove to work. He shook his head and quickly pushed any thoughts concerning his dream and a certain Special Agent off to the side and pulled the thoughts of Kyle Boone to the forefront of his mind. 

 

This bastard was just playing with them. He knew it, Boone knew it, but all the people in power believed Boone was sincere. Then there was that lawyer, he had been an odd one. Gibbs could almost believe that the lawyer was trying to get Boone life out of the goodness of his heart. Almost. There was something else going on between Boone and his lawyer. 

 

He stopped at his usual stop for Abby’s Caf-Pow! and headed into the office. He saw Cassidy flirting with DiNozzo,  _ his  _ DiNozzo. Except, Tony wasn’t his. Tony didn’t belong to anyone. At least, not at the moment. Gibbs had always taken special care to be aware of DiNozzo’s dating status. He needed to know about the emotional state of his team. That’s what he told himself anyway. 

 

“And I almost forgot,” Cassidy sauntered over to DiNozzo’s desk. “he drives a Ferrari. Red. ”

 

He saw Tony freeze for a moment before whispering, “like Magnum. Well, that’s nice.” 

 

“Isn’t it?” He saw Tony’s eyes flicker down to Cassidy’s chest and felt himself wanting to growl until Tony looked back up and he saw the lack of true arousal in his subordinate’s eyes. 

 

“You know what’s even nicer? My current view,” Tony leered down Cassidy’s shirt before jerking in fake surprise, “Victoria’s Secret. Agent Cassidy.”

 

Cassidy looked like she was almost preening, “Well, you can enjoy it as long as you can, DiNozzo. Because that’s as close as you’re gonna get.” 

 

He walked up behind Cassidy just then and nearly smiled at DiNozzo’s response. The sweet submission that crossed his expression made Gibbs’ breath hitch ever so slightly. “Cassidy?” She turned to face him and his kept the stern expression on his face, “Check Boone’s security detail.”  _ Get away from DiNozzo.  _

 

“You got it.” She hesitatingly made her way to the elevator. 

 

“I’ll give her a hand with that.”  _ No, no, no.  _

 

“Wait,” he keeps his voice even. Tony had stood and was beside his desk, so Gibbs sauntered the two steps so he was within range. Once Cassidy was in the elevator his hand came up and slapped DiNozzo on the back of the head. He saw Tony’s shoulders relax ever so slightly before he turned and face Gibbs. 

 

“What was that for?” Tony asked coyly. 

 

“Letting her get to you,” Tony tried to deny it, but with a single look, Tony relented. He handed Abby’s Caf-Pow! to Tony. “It’s for Abby. Go find out how many victims she ID’d from Boone’s scrapbook.”  _ And stay away from Agent Cassidy. _ Tony walked off to do his bidding and Gibbs smiled to himself. Tony’s shoulders  _ had _ lightened, ever so slightly. Gibbs good mood lasted until he saw Boone on the screen.  _ Oh yeah. This fuckhead.  _ He made his way down to interrogation and was watching him from the observation room. He watched from the observation room for a few minutes before Ducky came bursting in. 

 

“You don’t have to do this again, you know.” Gibbs turned back to face Boone.

 

“You’re wrong, Duck, I do.” His hands were tied, if he was going to dance to this bastards tune, at least they were dancing Gibbs’ dance. 

 

“He’s never going to tell you where those poor girls are.”

 

“I know that.” That much was obvious, but with Boone in his house, he controlled who had access to Boone. 

 

“Then why?” Ducky searched his face for a reason. 

 

“Because ten years ago, I couldn’t break him.” Partially true.

 

“No, but you did what no one else could; you caught the son of a bitch.”

 

“I should’ve killed him.” 

 

“And in two days, that will be rectified.” Gibbs understood Ducky’s reasoning, but Gibbs had never felt better. Ten years go, he had still been off balance, he didn’t have anyone to really have his six. Not like Tony. “I’m telling you as a friend, it’s time to let this one go.”

 

He had. The matter was closed in his mind until SecNav had stuck his big nose in it, so Gibbs was going to treat it like any new case he got. Dug and dug and poked and prodded till he got his answer. “Not yet, Ducky.”

 

“You already lost one relationship as a result of this case. I mean, she was a wonderful girl, and you neglected-”

 

“She left me, Duck!” Gibbs growled at the doctor. What was Ducky trying to insinuate? that he would lose his new relationship? That he would lose Tony? Like hell he would let that happen. “I didn’t leave her!”   
  


“No, you made it impossible for her to stay.” Gibbs walked out of observation, he took a moment in the hall to pull his wallet out of his pocket. That warm feeling of safety and security was still there, settled in his chest, but Ducky’s words had reminded him of his previous obsession with this case. His thumb rubbed across the embossed leather. Boone wouldn’t win. He had had a pretty good record before Tony came aboard, but after...Tony made his team’s close rate skyrocket, perhaps it had been a gradual increase over time, but the truth was the solve rate of his team had improved exponentially since Tony had come aboard. 

 

He took a deep breath and put the wallet back in his pocket before entering the interrogation room. He prowled the room a moment, Boone did his jovial greeting before Gibbs sat down.

 

“Finally,” Boone grinned at him, “so where should we start this time, Jethro?” Gibbs kept his face blank. “My childhood?”

 

“I didn’t bring you in here to talk, Boone.”

 

“So, you decided to let me see my photographs again?”

 

Gibbs successfully kept the smirk off his face, “I told you, that’s not going to happen.”

 

“Interesting. May I ask why I’m here then?”

 

“The state is hoping that I’ll get the location of your victims.”  _ I know I won’t be getting that out of you. _

 

“I believe that requires some form of communication.” Boone searched his face for an answer that wasn’t going to be there. 

 

“I said ‘The State.’ Me?” Gibbs shook his head, turning up his nose, “Not even gonna try.”

 

“But you always try, Jethro. That’s why I like you.” 

 

“I’ve taken you out of the system, Boone. You’re going to sit here, alone, without any human contact until you fry. The game ends now.” 

 

Boone shook his head as if he didn’t believe him, “this room brings back so many memories. Doesn’t it?”

 

“Special Agent Gibbs,” Cassidy’s voice came over the intercom. “A word, please.”  _ Rule 17, damnit. _

 

“Sounds like you replaced your dead female. Any chance I could meet this one?” Gibbs silently left Boone sitting in interrogation. “Well, I’ll be here if you need me.”

 

Cassidy came out of the observation room door once Gibbs was in the hallway. “What?!” 

 

“Boone’s attorney’s here. The DA’s afraid if we deny him access to his client, then he’ll find a sympathetic judge and have cause to have the execution delayed.” The aforementioned attorney walked around the corner and quickly ended his phone call.

 

“Look, I need a privileged conversation with my client. Meaning, Agent Gibbs, I want your observation room cleared and all microphones turned off.” Gibbs saw Tony fidgeting behind the lawyer, no doubt in the futile process to delay the lawyer as long as he could. That good feeling from this morning came back. 

 

“That’s it, counselor?” 

 

“For now, Agent.”

 

“Tony?” almost purring the name. Knowing his second in command would know what he wanted done. 

 

“Yeah, hold on a second. Search him first...thoroughly,” he smiled at Tony’s orders. Gibbs went to the head and stook a moment to eye his reflection in the mirror. Here he was taunting Boone and he had never felt better. He pulled out his wallet once more. He leaned on the bathroom counter and looked at the wallet closely. It was a plan black wallet with the Marine Corp. Logo embossed in the leather. Nothing special really. Just an office Secret Santa that he got one year. Of course, he knew his Secret Santa had been Tony that year, but still. The simplicity of the gift spoke of it’s perfectness. Yet the damn thing still radiated a feel that was a combination of Security, and Tony. 

 

He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts and put his wallet back into his pocket. He headed back towards interrogation just as the lawyer was leaving. “Agent Gibbs, if anything happens to my client while he’s here, I want you to know I am going to hold you personally responsible-”

 

“You have my word he will be in perfect health for his execution,” funny, it almost sounded like the lawyer cared about his client. “Escort Mr. O’Neill out of my building, Agent Cassidy.”

 

“You’ll be hearing from me.” he tried to stare Gibbs down as Cassidy ushered him from the hallway. 

 

“You going back in there, boss?” Gibbs smiled at the concern in Tony’s voice. 

 

Gibbs shrugged, “Yeah, maybe.” His phone rings with Abby saying they might’ve found Boone’s dumping ground. Gibbs’ mind starts racing, he turns back and immediately tells DiNozzo what Abby had told him and made his way to the lab. 

 

He stood before the big screen in Abby’s lab, looking at what appeared to be a cartoon drawing of a clearing in a wooded area, “What am I looking at?”

 

“Take it away, Mc-Key.” Gibbs just turned back and gave Abby a look. “I mean, um, very special Agent McGee.” Satisfied, Gibbs turned back around. 

 

“Probable site where the victims were tortured, killed and perhaps buried,” McGee said succinctly for once.

 

“Wanna know how we did it?” Abby asked excitedly. 

 

“Not really.”

 

“Good, ‘cause it was mostly luck.” Abby bounced on her tiptoes. 

 

“Where?” 

 

“Wilderness area, Great Falls National Park.” McGee succinctly reported again.  _ Good, let’s keep this rolling. _

 

“Tony, you lead the team.”

 

“Right, where are you going, boss?” 

 

“After ten years, I finally got something on Boone he doesn’t already know about.”  _ Of course I’m gonna go push Boone. _

 

Gibbs walked back into the interrogation room and made sure his smirk was not on his face. Boone looked confident,  _ Good _ . 

 

“My lawyer was very upset. He wanted to move me back to prison. But don’t worry. I told him I like it here.”

 

“Don’t get too comfortable. You’re going back today.” Gibbs set the chair back where it was supposed to go and walked out of the room.

 

Boone called after him, “really? What’s changed? You found something, didn’t you?” He walked over into the observation room and watched as Boone continuously called out for Gibbs to come back in. This time Abby walked in after a while. 

 

“Hey,” his voice gentle, and soothing. 

 

“Hey,” ah, she was curious about something. 

 

“What are you doing here?” he ventured. 

 

“I wanted to see what the monster looks like. He doesn’t look that scary.” she sounded like she wanted to comfort him. Save him. 

 

He turned to face her so she would know he was serious, “You saw the photographs?”

 

“Yeah,” she spoke softly. He left and got himself a cup of coffee. He shook his head for a moment.  _ What was it about guys like that that drew her in?  _ He went back to the observation room, finding it empty. He had finished his cup and gotten another one when his phone rang. 

 

“Yeah. Gibbs.”

 

“Gibbs, we found Boone’s dumping ground,” Cassidy’s voice came over the phone. Gibbs smiled,  _ gotcha. _

 

“Good work. Tell Tony he needs to call-”   
  


“We also found a fresh body,” Gibbs went cold,  _ shit _ . “Female. Dead less than a week. She has Boone’s mark on her back. I think we’re definitely dealing with a copycat killer.”  _ Fuck, who would have access to that kind of knowledge.  _ There was a bout of static, “Gibbs? Gibbs, can you hear me?”

 

“Yeah, I heard you. I want the area sealed off.”  _ Boone knew about this.  _ “I’m on my way.” He glared back at Boone.  _ That’s why he wanted to see his pictures.  _ Today had held such promise. He walked back into interrogation, God, he was sick of this son of a bitch. 

 

“You look a little peaked, Jethro,” he hated the sound of his name on Boone’s lips. “Something wrong? Maybe I can help. A new development, perhaps?”

 

“I got to hand it to you, Boone. I did my best. But you got me to play your game- congratulations.” Gibbs grit his teeth.

 

“You found the bodies. Good. Not what you were expecting, was it? You see, there’s someone else out there now, a new threat, and I’m the only one who can help you find him. You’ll have to request a stay of my execution.”  _ No way in hell that’s gonna happen. _

 

“Gonna have to pass on that,” he hummed thoughtfully, “no matter how this plays out, you’re gonna sit in that chair Saturday.”

 

“You can’t have changed this much,” Gibbs took a perverse pleasure in the pleading in Boone’s voice. “You have a sworn duty.”  _ I do, and I trust my team to help me do it. _

 

“Maybe ten years ago. Now, hell, I can wait till Sunday to start an investigation.”

 

“You’re bluffing,” Gibbs eyed the swat rolling down Boone’s neck. 

 

“You’re dead in 36 hours.” He casually walked out.

 

Before the door shut, he heard, “yeah, well, I’ll be here when you change your mind.”  _ Puh, as if.  _

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“McGee, where is my list of every visitor and phone call Boone’s had since being in prison?” Gibbs barked out. Cassidy was captured and they had no idea where she was. 

 

“Working it, boss.”

 

“Tony?” Gibbs called out. “Tony! Backup teams in place?” He knew Tony would take this particularly hard,  _ No one on this team is going to die. _ Those words had reverberated through his very being when Tony had said it in that elevator. 

 

“Yeah. I never should’ve let her take off like that alone, boss.” He knew this was coming, Tony awaiting the beratement. He was about to speak, when Abby came up. 

 

“The Polaroid of Cassidy’s clean; there’s no prints, no DNA. I’m sorry, Gibbs, I screwed this whole thing up.”  _ Now Abby’s blaming herself? What’s going on here that’s got my team in a twist? _

 

“ _ You _ screwed this up?”

 

“We should’ve known there was more than one killer, I only ran Jane Does up until the time Boone was captured. All four have gone missing in the last three years.”

 

“Concentrate on Boone’s contacts over the past three years.” Mcgee nodded his agreement.

 

“We can’t lose another agent. I can’t take this.” Abby lamented.

  
“Okay, our best bet is a guy named John Frederick Briggs. In the last three years, he’s logged 229 phone calls and visited Boone 96 times.” McGee reported.

 

“He’s writing Boone’s biography.”

 

“He’s living it,” it almost sounded like Tony was looking for a connection, as if he didn’t quite believe the lead. It was the best they had at the moment, so they had to go for it. 

 

“He’s off to a good start. Dishonorable discharge from the army in ‘91. Arrested for domestic disturbance in 2000 for beating his girlfriend-”

 

“Find him,” Gibbs barked out. McGee handed over the pertinent info.

 

“Find out if his cell has a GPS locator-”

 

“Checked the carrier. It does, and it can be remotely activated by the company if it’s reported stolen.”

 

“Good job, McGee,” Tony and Gibbs congratulated in stereo. “Let’s roll.” Gibbs ordered. Gibbs drove while McGee talked in his ear about Briggs’ location. Tony didn’t grimace at his driving for once. They finally caught up to Briggs and got him out of the car. They checked the trunk and Gibbs’ heart plummeted when they found it empty. It quickly became apparent that Briggs had nothing to do with the murders. Tony stood next to the car for a moment in silence. Gibbs was about to direct them back to base when Tony slammed his hand down on the roof of the car. 

 

Tony raised his eyes and stared at Gibbs. He had seen that look in Tony’s eye before. Once when Pacci was killed, it was a look that had promised vengeance. Then again in the elevator after Kate’s death. The one in the elevator was far more potent and while the look on Tony’s face wasn’t quite as intense. It was there. Power. Carefully restrained, what kind of power, Gibbs had no clue, but it made every sense within him scream in warning. 

 

“No one else on this team is going to die,” was all he said before walking to the cluster of trees next to the road. Gibbs stood there in shock for a moment. There was a pop as if he had rose too quickly in a sub. Gibbs watched Briggs drive off before he went into the cluster of trees. Tony wasn’t there. Gibbs frowned and went back to the car. He sat in the dirver’s seat for a long moment before he pulled out his cellphone and called DiNozzo. 

 

“Yeah, boss?” 

 

“What the hell, DiNozzo?” Gibbs growled, he didn’t like no knowing what was going on and things weren’t making sense. He didn’t like it. DiNozzo quickly told him where to go, and when he arrived he saw Boone’s lawyer. Dead. It looked like the man’s own knife had been used to stab himself in the neck.  _ Go, Agent Cassidy. _ Tony came up behind him, as if they had arrived together. 

 

“Rest of the place is clear, boss,” Tony reported. 

 

Gibbs gave him a look and at Tony’s nod that there would be some sort of explanation later, Gibbs got them on track for wrapping up the investigation. Cassidy’s statement and reports got filed. Gibbs taunted Boone one last time before he was hauled away. All in all the whole situation could have ended worse, part of the reason for which was sitting on the bottom step of his basement. Right in front of a certain foot locker. 

 

“So what, the hell happened out there, Tony,” Gibbs kept his voice even as he hand sanded his boat.

 

“You talking about when I disappeared, boss?” he sounded like he was on the verge of spilling the biggest secret in the world. 

 

“Yeah, DiNozzo,” Gibbs turned to face Tony and saw that the use of the surname was not the route to go, Tony looked like he was closing himself off.  _ Shit, maybe I can get a hint. _ “How did you get out to that farm, Tony?”

 

Tony swallowed nervously, “Can’t, boss.”

 

“Why not?”  _ If I could just find out how he did it, maybe it wouldn’t feel like the Earth is shifting beneath me _ . 

 

Tony looked him in the eye, “Against the law. If I could, I would, boss. But I can’t. I can’t tell you.”

 

“Security Clearance issue?”

 

Tony winced, “kinda. Look, Boss. I know if I tell you to let it drop, you won’t, but I’m begging you, Boss. Let it go. Just accept that Cassidy is okay and everyone’s safe.” Tony had gotten up and was now standing within arms reach of Gibbs. 

 

“Tony-”

 

“I mean it, boss. For your sake. Don’t want you getting anymore brain damage,” Tony looked him in the eye, begging. It took everything in Gibbs not to push the issue, but in the end he trusted his SIC. If Gibbs didn’t need to worry about it, then he would try not to. For Tony. Tony left shortly thereafter and Gibbs sat on the couch holding the leather wallet in his hands once more. 

 

“I’m trusting you Tony, please don’t let me down,” it came out as a whispered prayer. “I’m trying to trust again, Shannon. I love you.” He held the image of two figures in his mind as he settled down for a long deserved rest. 


	3. Silver War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No it's not canonically Tony's Issues with the Civil War, but Harry as Tony would still have issues, just different ones.

It was a Monday. Enough said. Tony sneered down at his razor as he dragged himself in to work that morning. All he wanted to do was go back to bed. He had dreamed of Gibbs all weekend and had wanted to get back to that. He began grumbling to himself, “Freaking hate Mondays. Freakin’ Fat Al’s All-You-Can-Eat Burrito Shack. More like Fat Al’s bacteria shack.” _Yeah the food poisoning hadn’t helped my mood nor my will to get out of bed._ Tony brushed his teeth using the drawer in the filing cabinet made for just this purpose.

“Shouldn’t have come in to work today. Gibbs sees me like this-”

“He’ll probably be as horrified as I am, Agent DiNozzo.” _Wait, I know that voice._ “Working undercover as a hobo?”

Tony slowly took the toothbrush out of his mouth, “you mind telling me, uh, what you’re doing here _again_?”

“Um, waiting.”

“For what?”

“To start work,” the woman honestly looked serious. “Does everyone always come in this late?”

“It’s 0700.”

“At Mossad, we start at 0500.”

“Okay, let me rephrase the original question. What the hell are you doing here, Ziva?”

“I see. Gibbs didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Tony took a deep breath. _Big surprise there._

“Mossad’s assigned me to NCIS as a liaison officer. We’re gonna be working together,” Ziva nodded at him seriously.

Tony’s eyes narrowed, _something’s not right. Gibbs doesn’t take on new members of the team be them being assigned to him._ “Does Gibbs know about this?”

“You think I’d be here if he didnt’?” She nodded seriously again and he began laughing nervously. “You might want to do something about, uh, your hair. It’s sticking up like a pork-u-swine. Wrong word. Like a pork...pork-u-pig. The little animal with the little spikes, yes? The-”

“Porcupine.”

“Porcupine! Yes, thank you Special Agent McGee,” Ziva gestured wildly as she thanked McGee. “Toda.”

“Sure.” McGee stood there stunned for a moment as she had taken one of the coffees from him. He looked over at Tony and moved closer, mouthing his question as to her presence. Tony shrugged and shook his head, not quite believing that Gibbs would accept this.

“Anyone have a key for this,” Ziva gestured around the area of Kate’s desk.

McGee turned around and acted as if he were defending the team from some sort of outside attack, which in reality was Ziva sitting at Kate’s desk. “It’s Kate’s desk.”

“Okay, but if I’m going to be a part of your team, I would love to-”

“Woah, woah, woah, you’re part of our team?” _Okay, even probie didn’t know. Something’s up._

“Yes.”

“Gibbs tell you about this?” McGee asked Tony, all he could do was shake his head as he buttoned up one of his back-up shirts that he keeps at work. Ziva got out and handed them her orders from a green file. “Think Gibbs knows?”

“I hope so. All my personal possessions are currently being shipped from Tel Aviv to Washington.”

“I’d hold of on unpacking the waffle iron until you talk to him, Ziva.” He looked at her almost sympathetically.

That seemed to give her pause, “When’s he come in?”

“Now,” Tony gleefully handed back her orders and turned to Gibbs. He allowed himself a rare moment, as everyone turned to watch Ziva and Gibbs interact, he allowed his eyes to wander over Gibbs himself. Gibbs had looked relaxed when he had gotten off the elevator. When Gibbs asks her why she’s here, Tony almost winces in sympathy. Gibbs then heads straight for the director’s office, he looks angry, but Tony can see that his shoulders still aren’t as tense as they used to be. _Whoever the lucky lady is, I hope she makes him happy at least_.

“I stand corrected. It appears he did not know. I feel like a donkey’s butt.” she sighed as she walked back around and sat at Kate’s desk.

“Donkey’s butt?” McGee asked him.

“I think she meant horse’s ass, McGee.”

“Yes, that, too.”

Tony set to work and tried to ignore the itchy feeling at the back of his head, she just looked so pathetic sitting there. At Kate’s desk. Looking lost. “You want something to read?”

She actually looked to be taking the olive branch, “what do you have?”

Tony winks at her, he’s got the perfect idea, he pulls out one of his favorites, “GSM. It’s a men’s magazine. Most women find it objectifies them.”

She eyed him for a moment before reaching into her own bag. And pulling out a translated version of the same issue in Tony’s hands. He smiled at the fact he was right. He smiled until she mentioned Page 57. He quickly turned to the page mentioned and felt his brain stop working for a moment.

“I, uh, I always thought that was urban legend.” His brain still refused to work till he felt a paper ball hit him on the back of the head. “Thank you, boss.”

An odd look crossed Ziva’s face, not only was the interaction odd, then the thanks for such an assault, but the look on Gibb’s face before he turned. It was as if some darker beast were mollified. Both agents put away their magazines and turned to Gibbs expectantly.

“What’s the verdict?” Tony kept his gaze on his work as Ziva stood nervously.

“Pack your trash.” Tony almost winced in sympathy, then looked to Gibbs. _Wait, she’s staying!_ When Gibbs went after her and they had their conversation in the elevator, he looked to McGee.

“Guess, she’s staying probie,” Tony shrugged. He twirled his fingers under his desk and listened to the conversation in the elevator. _So, Ziva killed Ari, huh. Bummer._ Tony smiled at Gibbs’ groan that he doesn’t kick butt.

“Miss David will be with us for a while.” Gibbs caught her before she sat back down at Kate’s desk. “That’s Kate’s desk. Yours is down at the end.”

Tony went over to the copy machine, “he’s a tough one to read.” Ziva trailed after him.

“You’ll find most NCIS agents are like that. It’s our training.”

“Is that a fact?” _Well, maybe not everyone else’s training._

“We never let other people know what we’re thinking.”

“Right now, you’re thinking of doing page 57 with me.” Tony chuckled a little, _not you per se, more like with Gibbs._ He turned back to the copier and listened with his spells as McGee told Gibbs about the case. Some poor soul had been buried in a civil war time capsule.

“DiNozzo!”

“Yeah, boss?”

“Got a murder in your area of expertise.” _Just because I kept flinching at the cannon fire and dropping into a defensive crouch, that_ one _case. Ugh, I hate any war shit going on. Too many similarities._

“This happens a lot, me being a Senior Field Agent and all.” He smiled cockily at her before turning to Gibbs. Gibbs had a look of warning trepidation, not teasing, one thing Tony had always been grateful off was the fact that Gibbs never teased him about his flinches.

“I’m sure it does,” Ziva purred at him.

“What do we got, boss?” Tony realized he would have had no way of naturally hearing what had been discussed on this side of the bullpen. “Multiple homicides?”

“No,” Gibbs kept that look of warning on his face.

“War?” Tony let his voice crack on the word.

“Civil war,” Gibbs nodded grimly.

Tony swallowed his trepidation, “I can hardly wait. It’s my favorite subject.” Tony lowered his eyes and went back over to his desk mutely as Ziva replaced Tony’s spot at Gibbs’ desk.

“What about me?”

“You’re coming along strictly as an observer. Hand over all your weapons.” They shared a long look across Gibbs desk before Ziva caved.

“Is that really necessary?” Gibbs held out his hand expectantly. “Right.”

“And your backup.”

“What backup?” _Really, Ziva? You’re gonna play that game?_

“Left leg.”

“Oh. That one.” She emptied and handed over her second pistol as petulantly as the first.

“And the knife concealed at your waist.” Tony nearly laughed out loud at Ziva’s stare of wonder. She pulled it out and handed it to Gibbs, who promptly handed it back to her saying she could keep that one. “I just want you to know that I know.”

Ziva stood there, stunned for a moment as Gibbs stalked off. She glared at Tony who had stuck around and was leaning against the divider of the bullpen, “Rule Number Nine. Never go anywhere without a knife.” She looked at him quizzically for a moment. “He didn’t ask for the one strapped to your right leg, nor the one attached to your bra.”

Tony walked off, expecting her to follow, which she did, but she kept her eyes on the Agent before her. During their last encounter he had played the goof-off perfectly. She had had no reason to look past the surface, until now.

They arrived at said ‘crime scene’ and Ducky was fascinated by the vic, and then promptly flustered by the pretty older doctor. Tony kept himself away from the mummified corpse and went about his job of getting statements and showing Ziva the process, even if she didn’t realize it for what it was. They had finished up their end and McGee was taking pictures of him messing around with the stuffed bear.

“I don’t think this is what Gibbs had in mind when he instructed me to observe.” Ziva commented as they played around.

“Do you have any idea how many people get killed in America by bears every year, Ziva?”

“No, but I can’t imagine a lot.” She looked incredulously between Tony and McGee.

“You’d be surprised,” he posed for another picture.

“McGee?” Ziva asked, not taking Tony’s word for it. _Smart girl._

“Uh, I think it’s about one.” McGee took another photo.

“Isn’t there something more constructive you could be doing?” Ziva asked them haughtily.

“Like giving the newest member of our team valuable lessons about the rules,” Tony answered nonchalantly.

“Yes, you mentioned a rule nine earlier, what other rules are there?”

“Well, you just exhibited rule number three. Don’t believe what you’re told. Double Check.” Tony posed again.

“I thought rule three was never be unreachable,” McGee snapped a few more pictures.

“They both are,” Tony leaned back and acted as if the bear were swiping his head off.

“DiNozzo, McGee. Report in,” Gibbs snapped as he walked into the room after listening to their conversation a moment.

Tony caught Gibbs’ half smile before it was hidden, “Casket was uncovered by a housing project going up near Bull Run battlefield in Manassas, boss. Got the name and address of the construction company, scheduled an interview and soil test for tomorrow.”

“The only thing removed from the casket was one cell phone, damaged and non-operational. I’ve also got prints of the lab workers to run against any we find in or on the body and tomb. And Dr. Burns was wearing surgical gloves when she picked this up.”

“Good work,” Tony preened under the praise, “Miss David?”

“I’m wondering why there’s a nine-millimeter hole in my hat.”

“Ventilation,” Tony nearly burst out laughing when Gibbs said that, he was impressed by how deadpan Gibbs was during delivery too. _I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but can’t help it. I just love being impressed by my boss._ “I’ll escort the casket back with Ducky. We’ll meet in the squad room.”

“Agent Gibbs? I would also like to know if I could drive the truck back to base. Might make me feel as if I actually accomplished something today.”

Tony knew the sour feeling in his gut meant something when Ziva made such an innocent request. Even on a broom, Tony had never felt as he did sitting in the truck with Ziva behind the wheel. “Hey not so fast.”

“I always drive fast. It’s the best possible way to avoid IEDs and ambushes.”

“Fair, but that doesn’t mean you have to kill us to avoid such things,” Tony advised.

“Besides, we really don’t have to worry about those things, here,” McGee grunted as Ziva made another turn entirely too fast.

Tony grunted as they weaved around another car, “how about this? Slow down, or I’ll puke on you.”

“Tony, why don’t you like the American Civil War?”

Tony grit his teeth, some wounds stayed raw, “Don’t like any war, don’t want to talk about it either.”

“Ya know, I don’t know either. Last time, we had a case involving some Civil War Reenactors, every time a cannon went off, he crouched and held his gun in one hand and his fist clenched and out.”

“Probie!” Tony’s heart hammered in his chest at the memory. Since day one as a cop he had learned to shoot one handed, with his wand in the other. So when NCIS was called out to interview some CWR members, while they were Reenacting, some blank cannons had gone off as a part of the reenactment. He had been tense with the gunshots all day, but until the explosions had gone off, Tony hadn’t shown any outward sign of discomfort.

He heard the softness in her voice, “flashbacks.”

Tony crossed his arms in front of his chest and sat back, looking out the door window and refusing to look forward, Ziva had slowed down a little. “Yeah.”

He felt McGee stiffen next to him, “Tony, oh my God, I’m so sorry. Bad days as a cop?”

“No, and I’m not talking about it,” Tony kept up his glare out the window and the rest of the ride was quiet. They arrived back at Headquarters and McGee and Tony immediately began digging into the history of Staff Sergeant Warren Sorrow. He had been an MSG instructor at Quantico.  

Gibbs came up asking for details, McGee responded, “reported UA about a year ago. Currently building a profile on what his life was like around the time of his disappearance.”

“Not anymore. I want you with Abby. Find out what was on the cell phone we found in the casket. Tony, you’re on the papertrail. I want to know everything about him by the time I get back. And you, you keep...you keep observing.”

“What exactly, Gibbs?”

“I don’t care. Just do it quietly.” Gibbs walked off and Ziva turned and looked to Tony, her expression of carefully concealed rage.

“Now I know why he took all my weapons away.” Tony half-smiled encouragingly, but his heart wasn’t in it. The reminder of his past too fresh in his mind. _Maybe I should take a bit and talk with Kate again._ Tony had found out that the longer a soul had been dead, the more pain the Resurrection Stone inflicted on the soul summoned. _No, I can’t do that to Kate, again. The first time was a moment of weakness, the second was another moment of weakness that I can’t allow to happen again._

It had long turned dark when Tony realized that he hadn’t heard from Ziva in a while. He perked up and slowly rose to look at her desk. “Ziva?”

“Yes?” Her voice purred behind him.

He jerked around and faced her, “First of all, don’t ever do that again. And Second, What are you doing?”

“I’m observing you, Tony.” She leered at him teasingly.

“Any way you can do that in a less creepy manner?”

Just then, Gibbs came walking up with an unknown woman laughing at something he had just said. “Who’s the woman with Gibbs?”

Tony’s head snapped to Gibbs so fast, Ziva had to jerk out of the way so his repositioning body didn’t knock her down. She saw his jaw clench, but the rest of Tony’s body was kept deceptively relaxed. Tony’s eyes narrowed in recognition. “Yeah. Once you’re here long enough, you’ll figure it out.”

“Is that his girlfriend?” Tony’s jaw tightened even more, if it were possible.

“I have no idea,” _but it’s the same woman from two years ago._

“You just told me-”

“Well, you’ll figure out there’s some things around here you don’t ask about.” Ziva looked back and saw Jenny walking up the stairs behind them. She saw the same expression on Jenny’s face as she did on Tony’s. Longing, want, pain at seeing Gibbs interact on an intimate level with another person. Ziva nodded and remained silent.

Ducky came walking up, “Where’s Gibbs, Tony?”

Tony cleared his throat, “your 2 o’clock.”

“What’s wrong, Duck?” Gibbs didn’t even look at Tony before addressing Ducky.

“I know how our Staff Sergeant died.”

“From your look, I’m guessing it wasn’t a musket ball.” Ducky led them all down to Autopsy.

“At first, one could assume that a projectile of such size and mass would produce almost instant death. But pre-Civil War muskets were notoriously unreliable and lost most of their velocity over the first hundred meters. Our sergeant was grievously wounded by a musket ball, but his injury was not fatal.”

“Then how did he die, Dr. Mallard,” Ziva asked curiously, not understanding. Tony glanced at the man’s fingernail and swallowed in horror.

“His lung tissue was coated with an extremely fine film of rust particles,” _yeah, bet that wouldn’t have felt good to breathe in._ Tony’s bout with the plague had been the closest to suffocation he had come, at least in regards to dying that way. His near drowning at 14 didn’t really count since he had had access to his magic at the time. “One can only imagine how long he clawed at the iron sides of his casket, trying to escape before he suffocated.” Ducky held up the mangled fingertips for dramatic effect and Tony grimaced at the image.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night he dreamt of Gibbs. This time he had come to the dreamscape blinded. At least he had thought that until he shifted his head and felt the rustle of fabric against his face. He took quick stock of himself and found that he was held immobile by the rope attached to wood. His fingers groped and felt the smooth wood beneath his fingers. There was another rustle and a caress of leather. Tony groaned as the leather kissed his skin.

“Like that, DiNozzo?”

“Yes,” he gasped as the leather kissed his back again.

“Yes, what?” This one was slightly harder. _No, go back to before._

“Yes, Boss,” he begged. The leather kissed his skin once more and he groaned once more as goosebumps appeared in the wake of the leather. A gentle breeze drifted across his over sensitized back and it took him a minute to realize that Gibbs was gently blowing air across his heated back. The sensation caused more goosebumps to unfurl across Tony’s body. Tony didn’t know what to expect next, but gave himself over to Gibbs and his agenda.

“That’s it, Tony. Just surrender to me,” Tony swallowed thickly at the purr in Gibbs’ voice as he whispered into Tony’s ear. He shivered as he felt Gibbs’ clothed body plaster itself to his back. It felt like his whole body was vibrating in anticipation. He knew his cock was straining for release, but he didn’t care. If Gibbs wanted him to come, then he would order it.

“Only to you, Boss,” Tony gasped as Gibbs cupped his ass.

“Damn straight, DiNozzo,” Gibbs gave him a playful swat before the kiss of the leather came back. This time it was rougher, not quite the butter soft of the previous leather, but not the roughest he’d ever had on his skin. He didn’t bother trying to find any kind of pattern to Gibbs’ strokes, just relaxed and let Gibbs take him away. Away from his memories, away from the real world and all it’s problems, away from his own issues, away from his grief.

The leather stopped and Tony screamed at the change in sensation as Gibbs gently ran the tips of his fingers down Tony’s back. Suddenly, Gibbs was there, clothing rubbing deliciously against his back. Fingers wrapped around his nipples and Tony rested his back on Gibbs’ shoulder and bucked against his restraints as Gibbs played. Nonsensical noises came from his mouth as fingers pinched at varying times and intensities.

“Please, Boss, Merlin, Boss, please,” Tony didn’t even know what he was begging for, but he knew Gibbs would take care of it.

He felt a nose in his hair as Gibbs seemed to nuzzle the side of his head before whispering in Tony’s ear, “I’ve got you, Tony. Always.”

Tony’s eyes snapped open at that word. It stirred a memory, a memory of a memory. An instance where a man had said that word, in almost exactly the same tone. Tony’s breathing suddenly quickened in panic. He knew Gibbs had sensed the shift and had pressed himself back against Tony. One arm curled around Tony’s torso, while the other arm curled around his hips.

“Shhh, calm down, Tony.” Gibbs stood at his back for what seemed like forever before Tony’s breathing finally calmed. Gibbs’ fingers curled around the fabric until Tony made a whimper of protest. “Okay, Tony, but tell me.”

“It was just my past rearing its ugly head, nothing to do with us, nothing to do with here, now. Please, Boss.” It felt like Gibbs had pulled back his upper torso and was staring at him intently.

“Do you have anyone to talk to about your past?”

“Yes,” he responded automatically.

“No,” the room said in his voice.

“Tony,” Gibbs’ voice held a warning.

“Please, Boss, let it go,” Tony begged, he felt like he was on the verge of sobbing, he wanted to get back to before. Before Gibbs had said that word. The word that reminded him of Snape. Of all the dead in Tony’s life, Snape was the last person he wanted to think about, especially right now.

Gibbs was quiet for a long moment, “Fine, tell me about your tattoo.” Fingers brushed the magical triangle.

Tony chuckled in his restraints, oddly enough his arms didn’t feel tired, “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, boss.”

“Try me,” came the only reply.

Tony hung his head in defeat, “It’s a magical tattoo that is linked to a pocket dimension that holds the three most powerful magical artifacts in the world.”

There was a long moment of silence, but whether Gibbs was waiting for the room to tell him the truth or not, Tony didn’t know. All he knew was that Gibbs hadn’t moved and was taking a moment to process.

“Okay,” was all he said before feather-light kisses began hailing down on Tony’s neck. Tony groaned at the contact. The fingers resumed teasing and torturing his nipples, quickly reigniting the heat from before. Tony once more rested his head back on Gibbs’ shoulder which had magically become bare. He felt Gibbs fingers still pinching and pulling at the sensitive nubs of flesh, but then he felt slick fingers entering and scissoring him open. His breathing hitched and sped up in anticipation, he didn’t know how Gibbs had magically grown an extra hand, but he didn’t care. It felt too good.

Before too long, Tony felt something else pressing against his entrance. _Yes, Merlin, yes!_ Gibbs entered him in one quick thrust and Tony didn’t bother holding in the guttural groan that escaped him.

Gibbs’ head shifted and he felt lips pressed against his ear, “speak to me, Tony. Describe what I’m doing.”  Gibbs’ last word accentuated by an especially powerful thrust.

“You’re fucking me, Boss. Merlin, it feels so good,” Tony felt tears prickling at his eyes. He honestly hadn’t expected Gibbs to let the Tattoo thing go, even Dreamscape Gibbs. Gibbs rolled his hips and shifted the angle and for a moment Tony saw stars. “Oh, God, Boss-”

Gibbs’ head twitched as he felt Tony hold himself back, “speak, Tony, keep talking.”

Gibbs rolled his hips again and this time increased the pace, ramming straight into that spot, over and over, harder and harder. “Fuck! Your cock is buried so deep in my ass and it feels so good!”

“Yes,” Gibbs breathed against Tony’s neck.

“Boss! I’m- I’m gonna-”

“Cum, cum for me, my Tony,” Gibbs purred in his ear.

Orgasms of such intensity rolled through both men that they both woke and sat bolt upright in their own beds. The other’s name on their lips. Tony laid back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, “fuck!”  He lay there panting for a bit before lazily rolling over and passing back out.

Gibbs, however, sat up and mulled over what had happened this time. Tony had used ‘Merlin’ as an exclamation, like calling out God’s name during sex. Tony had done that too, but the use of ‘Merlin’ was decidedly odd. Then there was the bizarre explanation of Tony’s tattoo. Gibbs wondered if there was a way to search for the meaning of the symbol, he had seen it often enough in both the Dreamscape and the real world that he could easily search for it, but he didn’t know how. He wondered whether to go to Abby or McGee for help. Gibbs glanced at the clock, and decided that he would decide after their current case.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“A Marine dressed as a Civil War soldier is shot by a musket, and then buried alive in a 140-year-old antique iron casket. And you’re telling me this isn’t your strangest case?”

Tony and McGee ate their food happily as they confirmed Ziva’s question, “Yeah, there was the one with the priest kidnapping female petty officers and marrying them, then keeping them prisoner in an underground bunker.” _Mmm, I wouldn’t mind being held prisoner by Gibbs, especially if he treated me like he does in that Dreamscape._

McGee nodded, “then there was the Navy commander that seemingly spontaneously combusted after a successful open heart surgery.”

Ziva looked at them oddly for a bit, “I don’t know what I find more disturbing, your eating habits or the fact that I feel like there are more examples.”

“I’m sorry, do our strange American foods frighten you?” they laugh for a moment.

“Not at all. I was referring to your manners. You should have bought me one.” Then, before he could react, she grabbed the burrito wrapped in Tony’s hands and took a large bite out of his burrito. The anger and instinct to give up his food ingrained by his cousin so long ago was hard to fight back, but he managed to hold his anger back and only scared the probie. McGee scurried off to help Abby and he all but tossed his burrito at Ziva before sitting down at his desk. She sat on the edge of his desk and continued to talk to him. He heard Gibbs and Jenny talking on the balcony overlooking the Bullpen, but Ziva couldn’t. _Merlin, I love magic._

“I think she was an East European cabdriver in a past life,” Tony heard Gibbs hold back his chuckle and barely managed to hold back his own.

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t a cop. She obviously has no investigative or law-enforcement experience, Jen.” Gibbs sounded like he was still trying to make the case of not having Ziva on their team. Tony nearly grumbled at that as he worked at his computer. He had already started working on Ziva’s enchanted gift. If she was going to be a member of his team, then he had to have a way of tracking and protecting her. _No one on this team is going to die._

“Neither did I when I first started with you.”

“Yeah, well, you were always a fast learner.” Something in Gibbs’ voice gave Tony pause, _yeah, definitely something there between those two._

“You sure you don’t want it back, Tony?” Ziva cajoled. Tony was proud of his multi-tasking skills. Paying attention to multiple conversations while looking for a lead in their investigation. “Most men usually don’t have a problem with my germs.” _I don’t have a problem with germs, it’s just ingrained in me to give up my food when someone goes after it. Thanks a lot, Dudders!_

He sent the file he was looking at to the printer and left his desk to go get it, “I’ve got a lead on how our staff sergeant ended up in a union soldier’s uniform. He was a member of a local CWR out of Fairfax.” He turned back around and Ziva was right behind him.

“CWR?” she purred her question as she tore the paper from his hands. She again reminded him so much of Dudley that he had to pull back his anger.

“Yeah, Civil War Reenactors. Guys who get together, dress up in period costumes, reenacting famous battles.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, as far as I’m concerned, there’s enough war in the world, there’s no need to reenact any of it.” Tony tried to keep the anger and bitterness out of his voice, he really did.

“According to this, they’re preparing for one of those battles this week in Manassas. Quite the coincidence.”

Tony took the paper from her hands, “and in the immortal words of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Rule Number 39: There is no such thing as coincidence.”

“Good to know you’ve been listening, DiNozzo,” Tony heard the approval in Gibbs’ voice and internally preened.

“Hey, boss,” Tony called out casually, “I was just telling Ziva about this lead that I-”

Gibbs walked by and smacked the back of his head casually, “yeah I heard.”  Tony felt his shoulders relax involuntarily. “Come on, Abby’s found something. Let’s roll.”

Tony didn’t bother explaining the head-slap, Ziva would figure it out, or she wouldn’t. He really didn’t care. They arrive in Abby’s lab and Tony was thrown off by the music of the lab. He looked over to where Gibbs was looking and blinked for a moment, not really believing that it was Abby.

“Abs?” apparently Gibs couldn’t either.

“I look like a freak,” Tony winced at the word, “well?”

“See, I- I don’t think she really looks that bad.” McGee offered.

“Is she making a reference to that strange tattoo on her neck?” He tried to wave Ziva off as he moved closer to the strange looking Abby. She was wearing a suit. Abby Sciuto was wearing a lavender colored pinstripe suit. Skirt, heels, and all. Her hair wasn’t even in pigtails. Tony’s face started twitching, this just wasn’t Abby.

“Why?” With one word Tony knew that whatever was the cause of these changes was going to go away, and soon.

“One of the director’s new admin weenies brought me this last night. It’s the NCIS dress code. He said I was in violation,” Abby was not walking steady in the heels she wore.

“He did, did he?” Tony knew that tone promised vengeance upon some poor soul in Admin, if not Jenny herself.

“I mean, it’s bad enough that I have to wear a monkey suit for court appearances but every day?” She wobbled for a second, precariously close to falling over. Tony was there before Gibbs could move and held Abby steady. “Thank you.”

“I think you look nice, Abby,” Ziva offered. Tony winced, _not the thing to say to an upset Abby when the source of her upsetness is her clothes._

Abby looked at her as if she couldn’t believe that had come out of Ziva’s mouth at her. “Nice? You think I look nice? I look like...like…”

“Career Girl Barbie,” Tony offered.

“Oh, my god.” she breathed horrified, “I do. I can’t work like this, Gibbs.” Abby turned and walked away from Tony’s support and sat down at her computer.

“I’ll take care of it, Abs.” Gibbs called out, trying to soothe her.

“I’m allergic to polyester.” She grabbed Bert, “it makes me itch. It’s a medical condition. I could get a note from the doctor.”

Gibbs walked forward and placed a hand on Abby’s shoulder, “Abby, I said...I’ll take care of it.”

Abby squeezed Bert in comfort, Ziva looked to Tony and McGee bewildered, “Don’t ask.”

“Can we get back to work now?” Gibbs asked her.

“Do I have to wear the shoes?” he sighed at her before crumpling up the piece of paper and tossing it aside in answer to her question. She gleefully kicked off the shoes and smugly ran them through the evidence. “The circuit board in the cell phone was damaged, but we managed to get it working again. The battery shut down on October 3, 2004.”

“The last 22 calls were made to 911.” McGee added in at Abby’s silent cue.

“None of them went through.”

“He was calling from inside the casket,” Tony suppressed another shudder of horror. _Of all the ways I was predicted to die, thank Merlin buried alive had never been one of them. Still, starvations worse and I’ve lived through that._

“Yep. Cast-iron and buried underground.”

“I don’t think anyone’s calling plan extends that far, Tony.” Abby lightly berated/teased.

“What are these last entries here?” Gibbs brought them back on track.

“Uh, well, he was running low on oxygen, boss. I assume that he was trying to dial another number, hit random keys.”

“Find out,” Gibbs barked at their two techies, “What’d you pull from the tomb, Abs?”

“Um, there were traces of Staff Sergeant Sorrow’s blood inside the cover.”

“Most likely from when he tried to claw his way out.” Ziva supplied.

“Since his fingers were shredded, that must have been really hard to figure out, Agent Day-vid,” Tony gulped at Abby’s hostility. He knew it stemmed from Ziva apparently replacing Kate and being obviously forced on the team. Tony rested his arm on Abby’s shoulders and he felt them relax marginally.

Ziva looked at Tony a moment before she glanced at Abby, “it’s pronounced Dah-Veed. Or you can just call me Ziva.”

Tony leaned down and whispered in Abby’s ear, “we’re talking about this after Gibbs let's us out today.”

She grumbled and pouted at Tony a moment before she continued as if the thing with Ziva hadn’t happened. “I also found two very distinct types of dirt on the outside. One is red clay, which is very common in Virginia,” she moved out from under Tony’s arm. “And the other had a high concentration of fertilizer.”

“What time are you meeting with the construction company that found this?”

“0900.”

“Take Ziva with you. See if there’s anything left of that crime scene.”

“On it.” Tony walked out, not even looking to see if Ziva had followed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He didn’t know how he did it. If you were to ask him to repeat what he had said to her word for word, he couldn’t have been able to tell you. It was times like these he wished he owned a Pensieve. However, he certainly couldn’t get one now, not with the blood-run background checks on purchasing them. But it would almost be worth it, just to see what he had said to get Ziva to crawl through the dirt instead of him.

“Tell me you have a shower here.”

“We do,” Tony fought to keep the smirk off his face, “but only for biological or chemical emergencies.”

“Wonderful.”

“Well, you’re the one who said you were sick of observing.” He couldn’t keep the smirk off his face that time.

“You made me crawl through a dump truck full of dirt.” _I never cast the Imperius on you_.

“There could’ve been valuable evidence in there.” Tony barely said that with a straight face.

Ziva glared at him, “There wasn’t.

“Yes, and thanks to you, we now know that.” Tony set down his back by his desk as Gibbs watched them.

“How’d it go?”

Tony’s bright face turned to Gibbs, “Nothing, boss. Building site was clean, figuratively speaking.”

“Very.”

“We taped off the area, but we’re not going to find anything.” Gibbs looked between the two agents and Tony thought he looked to be holding back a smirk or something when Abby and McGee came up, with their very own lead.

“Gibbs! We did it.”

“Did what, Abs?”

“Those random numbers weren’t random after all, boss.” McGee sounded proud.

“Staff Sergeant Sorrow was leaving us a text message from the grave.” Abby was good at setting up dramatic reveals, this one was definitely in the top five. She had McGee set it up on the plasma.  “When you put it through the cell phone’s text converter, you get this.” Suddenly, all those numbers became, ‘Only got half Oxbow not on his side Kearns don’t let him get safety deposit box.’

“That’s it,” Tony was hoping more for a ‘I was murdered by *insert name here*.

“He was buried alive, Tony. What did you expect, a soliloquy?” Ziva snapped at him, _still pissed, huh? Eh, she’ll get over it._

“We ran his Social through the banking system. Staff Sergeant Sorrow has a safety deposit box paid for five years at the North Virginia Savings and Trust.”

“McGee, get me a-”

“Warrant. Already called it in, boss.” McGee looked like he was feeling super proud of himself, _let him. He deserves this, he_ did _find us our next big break. We were starting to run trails cold._

“DiNozzo, Oxbow and Kearns?”

“On it.” _Knew it, another paper trail._

“Get me into that safety deposit box. You take Ziva with you.”

Tony nearly laughed out loud, mostly because he had been in Ziva’s position, more than once. It was not a pleasant experience to be showered with gunk and gross bits, she’s lucky it’s just dirt on her. “Is there somewhere I can clean up?”

“Yeah, sure. Tonight, when you go home.” Yep, he’d been in that position too. _Ooh, positions._

Tony whispered under his breath, “Merlin, get your heads out of the clouds, DiNozzo.”

He didn’t see Gibbs freeze at the exclamation and stare at Tony, wide eyed and having a distinct similarity to a deer in the headlights. Instead, McGee called asking about Staff Sergeant Sorrow having a brother, which he didn’t, but the sound of the phone was enough to break Gibbs of his stare and for him to leave and get coffee.

McGee came back, soaking wet and Tony wisely kept his laughter to himself. Somehow in the short amount of time that McGee left, any Felix Felicis running through their team at their new lead, puttered out. Gibbs was pissed. McGee had lost the map he had found in the safety deposit box. McGee apologised and Gibbs didn’t immediately berate him, Tony wanted to slink under the desk. _Oh, boy. This is not gonna be pretty._

“They used us. Used us to get into that safety deposit box for them.” Gibbs turned to look at the security footage from the bank.

“Well, he knew exactly what he wanted. All he asked for was the map.”

“Map? What map?” _Uh, oh. Gibbs is gonna pop and then we won’t have our Probie anymore._ “Map of what, McGee?”

“Well, I-I didn’t really get a good look at it.” _Fuck!_

“Maybe it was a treasure map, probie. You know, like, uh, gold, diamonds, silver-”

“It wasn’t from one of your dumbass movies, DiNozzo.”

“-Or a cache of guns that could be worth millions, boss,” Tony finished as he dropped the pizzaz. It had done it’s job, it had gotten Gibbs on him.

McGee pulled up the so called ‘brother’ on the plasma. “We need to find this guy. Claimed he was Staff Sergeant Sorrow’s brother.”

“I might have a name for him. Been researching the words from Sorrow’s farewell message, Oxbow and Kearns.”

“Oxbow was a name on the map.” McGee put in.

“The other name might be his.” Tony handed Gibbs the roster of the CWR members. “Judd Kearns. A member of the same Civil War club our dead Staff Sergeant belonged to.”

“Get an address?”

“Yeah, but he’s not there. The club is on their way to Manassas Battlefield Park for a reenactment. Should be there this afternoon.”

“McGee, what else do you remember about the map?” Gibbs rounded back on McGee until Ziva came to his rescue.

“I think I can help with that.” She came up and handed Gibbs a sketch of what appeared to be a map. It reminded Tony so much of Kate doing the same thing that it felt like he had been punched in the gut. “At Mossad, officers who fail to observe don’t generally last long.”

“Hmm, and at NCIS, uh, they apparently get drop-kicked into water fountains.” Tony lightly teased at Ziva.

She laughed good naturedly, “That would have never happened if I had my weapons.”

“McGee, find out what this is a map of.” Gibbs hads him the map and probie disappeared to Abby’s lab to figure it out. Tony got to work at his computer, double checking his information. When Gibbs made his way down to Abby’s lab to meet with Dr. Elaine Burns, Tony switched his focus from the case to his own personal research project. His dreamscape with Gibbs. _Was it really Gibbs he was dreaming with? Was it just a manifestation of his own wants and desires? That didn’t sound quite right, though. There were things that Gibbs did that wasn’t par for the course of his Gibbs dreams._

Tony quickly shook his head and shifted gears back when the park rangers called back saying that Kearns’ CWR club had checked in. Then, lo and behold, Gibbs came up from Abby’s lab just as he hung up, “Boss, his club checked in with the park rangers. Judd Kearns is there now. We rolling?”

“Nope. Not yet.” Gibbs went over and handed Ziva her weapons, “Gear up.”

Tony’s hand was reaching for his bag before he even thought about it at Gibbs’ words. He stood and waited by his desk for Gibbs to pass by. He fell into step behind Gibbs, and felt something in chest relax at the familiarity. _See, no reason to be jumpy, Gibbs will be there too. There aren’t any dark and evil wizards there to kill me. It’ll be just fine._

They arrived at the Park, just as they were at the cannons bit, _yay._ Tony kept close to Gibbs and despite his best efforts, his jaw just would not unclench. Gibbs didn’t say anything about the closeness, nor did he push Tony away. After what had happened in the truck at the start of this case, McGee kept wisely silent, as did Ziva. Gibbs walked up to talk to one of the ‘officers’ on horseback and asked where Kearns was. Before they left Gibbs reached up and pat the horse on the side of the creature’s neck. Tony reached up to do the same and the horse nodded his large head and the horse’s nose grazed over Tony’s ear.

“Yeah, I know, buddy, thanks,” Tony walked off after Gibbs and almost didn’t flinch at the next cannonfire. Gibbs and Tony made it back to Ziva and Ducky and let them know Kearns was dressed as a Union soldier. Gibbs called for Ziva to stay with Ducky and his friend, McGee and Tony trailed off dutifully after Gibbs. Tony kept closer to Gibbs than normal again, but none mentioned it.

They headed off to the north-east looking for their guy. Tony spotted him first, “Boss, your 3:00. Red stripes.”

They stopped and eyed the man a moment. In that time Kearns stopped talking to the other guy and saw them. Gibbs flashed a badge and he immediately started running. All three took off after him, “Ah, he’s going.” The nervous commentary fell out of his mouth before he could stop it. “He’s fast!”

“You think?” Gibbs shot back. “Son of a-” Tony glanced worriedly at Gibbs, for the man had nearly run into a tent pole.

Tony saw Gibbs running wide and moved to try and herd Kearns that way. Finally Kearns made a turn that opened him up for Gibbs to tackle him. They stood there panting a moment, “not bad, boss. I thought you were still behind me, till you tackled him.” Tony heard Tim come panting up behind him and grinned, Gibbs would be defending himself to Tony and therefore not worrying about how slow Tim had been.

“Not likely, DiNozzo,” _See? Works like a charm._

“Hey, I had the plague,” he poked back. Something crossed Gibbs’ face and Tony didn’t know if he liked that look or not. It was a kind of promise of possessive protection. It made a pleasant shiver go through his spine. Tony shook his head to clear it and moved to help Gibbs sit their guy up.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” _Ya know? I’m really tired of that excuse_. Gibbs got on the phone  and Tony heard the lilt of Ducky’s voice for a second.

“No? What about resisting arrest, Kearns?” Tony bit out at their guy. “And what’s that other charge, McGee?”

“Murdering Staff Sergeant Warren Sorrow.” Tony was proud of McGee for his deadpan delivery of that news.

“Sorrow’s dead? No way. You guys can’t pin that on me. I wouldn’t. They told me he got scared and took off.” Tony saw Gibbs struggling with his phone, as if he got cut off on his call from Ducky.

“He was buried alive in a coffin, dirtbag.” Tony’s eyes bore into Kearns’.

“I didn’t sign up for this. All she said I had to do was distract you.” Tony’s eyes widened in understanding.

“DiNozzo, come on,” Gibbs caught on too apparently.

“McGee, watch him,” Tony ordered as he ran after Gibbs. They were crawling up a small, but steep and overgrown hill when they heard a gunshot. Tony’s heart froze in his chest. _No!_ They hurried towards the sound. They saw Ducky kneeling next to the female doctor lady, then they saw Ziva. She had her gun trained on two men who were face down in the dirt.

“Remind me not to piss her off.”

“Oh, DiNozzo, you have no idea.” She grinned and winked at him. He smiled bewilderedly back at her. They processed the scenes and sent their perps back to NCIS for processing. _All in all, not a bad day, didn’t lose anyone and I got an idea for my team gift to Ziva._ Tony grinned happily to himself as he fell into step behind Gibbs, his hand wrapped around one perp’s arm. Suddenly one of the cannons misfired and there was an explosion of dirt within 15 feet of them. Tony didn’t have enough time to hold back his reaction and threw his perp into Ziva’s, causing them to fall in a tangle of limbs. Before the perps fell, Tony had Gibbs on the ground behind him and was crouched with his gun out in his right hand and his left fist was held out at an angle, clenched as if holding a wand.

Ziva’s heart stopped the moment the dirt exploded, if she hadn’t been so shocked by Tony’s reaction, she would have reacted herself. Instead she was left standing with Ducky as Tony threw one man into another and pulled Gibbs to the ground behind him. She couldn’t be sure, but she swore she saw lighting crackle across Tony’s eyes, literal lightning. She saw what McGee had been talking about with the gun in one hand and the other held out in a fist at an odd angle. She was about to approach Tony when Ducky’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“Let Gibbs handle this, my dear,” she turned back to see Gibbs hadn’t moved, except for a hand slowly, subtly reaching for Tony’s hand. When his hand was almost touching Tony, Gibbs started to talk.

“Tony, wherever you are, you aren’t there anymore, it’s over,” Gibbs’ hand brushed at Tony’s sleeve. Tony twitched and turned back to look at Gibbs. He still kept his body angled to see in the direction the blast had come from, but was now also looking at Gibbs. Ziva’s eyes widened in shock at the expression on Tony’s face. It was the blank face of battle. The mask that most Mossad officers developed in order to complete their mission, no matter who gets in the way.

“Tony,” Ziva had never heard Gibbs’ voice so soft. Hell, she had never heard any voice that soft and calming. “Where are you?”

“May 2, 1998,” Tony brokenly whispered. “Hog-” He suddenly shook himself and stopped talking. Tony swallowed thickly before he slowly put his weapon away. “Sorry, boss.”

Gibbs’ jaw clenched so hard, Ziva was afraid she would hear the cracking of teeth. “It’s alright, Tony. Let’s get these guys home.”

Tony grimaced before he nodded and wordlessly hauled one of the perps up to his feet, “let’s go, buddy.”

Ziva heard the attempt at normalcy, but kept her distance and watched Tony carefully. He kept his head on a silent swivel until they were all in the cars and headed away from the park. She was about to attempt to engage Tony in conversation until she looked at him properly. His jaw was clenched, his eyes haunted, and his body was taut as if waiting for an attack to happen, even in the car. They pulled into NCIS and she had hoped that he would relax, at least marginally, but he didn’t.

After their perps were in their holding cells, Ziva pulled Tony off to a semi-secluded corner, “Are you okay, Tony?”

He swallowed thickly, “I’m fine, cannonball just caught me off guard, that’s all.”

He tried to brush past her, but she stopped him, “if you ever need to talk…”

“Thanks, Ziva, but,” Tony sighed as if resigning himself to some inevitable torture, “to be honest, I don’t think there is anyone I _can_ talk to about any of this.” He leaned against the wall and slowly slid himself down it. _Not like I can just say, hey guys, sorry I freaked out at the CWR today, the explosion reminded me of the Battle of Hogwarts where I lost too many friends to Death Eaters._

Ziva looked down at him sympathetically, “even so, if you need to talk…”

“...I’ll keep that in mind, Ziva.” _Thanks for the offer, but the only person I think I would feel comfortable talking about this with, is Gibbs. And because he’s a mundane, he’s not supposed to know about magic. Therefore, no talkie for little Tony DiNozzo. No one to talk to about Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived. Wait! What if I talked about Harry as if he were someone else?_ Tony pulled his head up from his knees where it had inevitably fallen. He saw that no one was really close to him, so he got up and headed towards Autopsy. He may not be able to talk as _Harry Potter_ dealing with the Battle of Hogwarts, but he could be Tony DiNozzo at the Battle of Hogwarts….Somehow.


	4. Honor Code

Things had finally settled down at NCIS, the new Director was settled in, MCRT was working with a full team again. Abby had an assistant that she hated, life was great. The sex dreams were just that, sex. No more talking about magical tattoos with Gibbs, just mind blowing sex. Tony lounged as he waited for McGee and Ziva to come back from lunch.

“A whole hour for a lunch run, probie?” _Better he get chewed out by me, than Gibbs._

“Yeah, well, uh, while Ziva and I were out she asked me to show her the best routes to work. You know her driving’s gotten a lot better. Barely broke any laws this time.” McGee moved over to his desk as Tony stood and with a quizzical look on his face.

“Let me get this straight. Ziva asked you, who can barely navigate the Navy Yard, to show her the best way to work?”

“That’s right.” McGee looked quite smug at that. _Mayhaps Probie has found a new focus for his affections. Should I remind him of Rule 12. Then again that’s the one rule I wish Gibbs would break, so maybe if I don’t remind McGee of Rule 12 and he hooks up with Ziva, Gibbs can see that a relationship doesn’t have to affect work! Yeah, I didn’t believe it even as I thought it._

“Well, what about me? I know every shortcut in the metro area. I could shave ten minutes off her commute like that.” Tony snapped his fingers for emphasis.

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

Tony scowled once more and went back to his desk, “it doesn’t make any sense.” _I only took the goofy frat boy persona because that’s what people liked, isn’t it. Kate didn’t like it, Ziva doesn’t like it, McGee is annoyed by it._ Tony silently thought to himself as he settled back in behind his desk. Ziva tried to startle him, but he wasn’t feeling the role today.

“Gear up!” Gibbs order called across the room and Tony was already standing with his bag by the time Gibbs started his next sentence, “we have a missing person. Coleman Part carousel in Arlington.”

“A child?” Tony heard the quiver in her voice. _Weakness for kids maybe?_

“Father. Lieutenant Commander Alex Tanner. Disappeared an hour ago.” Tony put his burrito in his bag to eat on the way.

“Do you always respond to missing persons cases so promptly?” Ziva wondered.

“Special circumstances, Ziva.” Gibbs explained, “his six-year-old son called NCIS.” _Two years younger than Teddy_. “He’s in the park, alone, waiting for us. DiNozzo, you drive.” Tony caught the keys and headed off to follow Gibbs.

“Sure you don’t wanna drive, probie?” Tony couldn’t let it go without a little teasing.

“Nah, you can drive, Tony.”

“Afraid you’re gonna run over another fire hydrant? ‘Cause I’m sure that wasn’t your fault. Wait. It was, according to the police report.” _Can’t let McGee get too big a head, now can we?_

“I’ll drive,” Ziva offered and Tony clutched the keys to his chest protectively.

“No, thank you.” Tony shook his head.

“One more word, and you’re all walking,” Gibbs near-growled.

“You got it, boss,” Tony couldn’t help it, he’d always been snarky. Gibbs gave him a withering glance which Tony responded to by grinning wildly.

They arrive at the carousel and Tony sees the kid staring off into space, at least that’s what he would have thought, had the kid’s eyes not been moving in specific patterns and his lips moving, remembering. Tony walked up and squat to eye-level with the kid.

“Hey, Zack, right?”

Zach nodded and looked at Tony expectantly, “I’m Tony. What can you tell me about your dad disappearing?”

“Two men were watching us. I think they kidnapped my dad.” The kid looked worried more than scared. _Reminds me of me at that age_. Tony hid his wince at the memory.

“Can you describe them, Zach?”

“They had dark glasses. One had a military haircut. One had a shaved head.”

“What do we got?” Gibbs walked over to them.

Tony held up his finger for the kid to pause for a second, “Kid saw everything, two guys watching them. I was just getting him to describe them.”

Tony turned his head back to Zach and saw Gibbs sit down on the bench with the kid, “They had iPods, too. They were only listening in one ear, like this.” The kid took out his iPod and put one bud in his ear, like a Fed. or professional. _Well, fuck._ Either option meant trouble. Tony and Gibbs shared a look before walking a distance away from Zach to discuss the case more freely.

“Dark glasses, earwigs.” Tony listed.

“Sounds like professionals,” Gibbs sighed. Tony knew that sigh, it was the sigh of annoyance. This case was going to be a headache.

Ziva came walking up, “perhaps the Commander merely took a walk.”

Tony glanced down at her, “not all parents are as neglectful as my Aunt and Uncle.”

Ziva looked at him oddly before McGee came jogging up, “Boss, I just spoke with the commander’s CO. He’s very concerned. Apparently, Commander Tanner was working on a highly classified DOD project.”

“What project, McGee?” Gibbs barked as Tony went back over to the bench Zach was sitting on. Tony looked thoughtfully for a moment before reaching to an inner pocket and pulled forth a pen.

“He wouldn’t say over an unsecured line. But I’m going to find out.” McGee reported.

“This pen, Zach is very special. You keep this pen on you and every time you miss your dad or lose hope, you hold that pen. You hold that pen and you remember,” Tony purposefully met Zach’s eyes, “You remember my promise: _We are going to find your dad._ You hear me?”

Zach swallowed, nervous for the first time since their arrival, or just showing his nervousness. He nodded his head seriously before Tony nodded his agreement and handed Zach the pen. It was a normal, everyday looking pen, except for one thing…

“Hey, there’s a lightning bolt carved on here, cool!” Tony grinned at the wide smile on Zach’s face.

“Yeah? You like that, huh? Well,” Tony glanced around as if looking to see if anyone were watching them, Zach got that little kid eagerness in his eyes as he glanced around too. When the kid was busy looking the other direction, Tony quickly took the cap off his head and mushed it down on top of the kid’s head, temporarily blinding him. Zach let out a squeal of laughter, causing a big grin to appear on Tony’s face. Tony felt Gibbs’ gaze on them and he looked to his Boss. They shared a look and Tony knew. The kid didn’t have anyone else. Tony’s throat tightened both in sympathy and in memory.

They headed back to base and Ziva took Zach down to the sketch artist while McGee, Gibbs, and Tony talked shop. “These guys are definitely pros. Keep their faces from the camera. All we’ve got is Zach’s description.”

“Well, doesn’t look like kidnapping to me. They don’t have any guns, they barely touch the commander.” McGee offered.

Tony turned to look at him, “you go to the park with your kid, probie, you’re having a grand ole time, then two guys who look like Feds come up and say that if you don’t come quietly they’re going to hurt your son, the only family you have left in this world. You gonna fight without a weapon and have them aim straight for your son? Or you gonna go with them on the chance your son will be safe?”

Tony felt Gibbs’ stare boring into the back of his head as he watched McGee process his argument. Before the discussion can go further, Gibbs pulls them back on track, “What do we know about Commander Tanner?”

McGee jerks out of his thoughts and aims the clicker at the screen, “well, Boss, he is a brilliant man. A dual PhD from Caltech in number and chaos theory. I was actually reading his thesis online; he manages to link non-relativistic quantum effects…” Tony turned to stare pointedly at McGee. Apparently Tony’s stare in tandem with Gibbs’ did the trick and McGee stopped rambling. “Right, uh, the last three years he has been the Navy’s liaison with a defense contractor, Q&R Software. Uh, been the project lead for something called, ‘Honor’.”

“Which is?” Gibbs prompted.

“Classified. I put a call into the head of security over there. No one’s gotten back to me. So I thought I would pay them a visit.”  Zach came back up with Ziva and Tony broke away to talk with Zach again.

“Yeah, that’s a good answer. Tony, go with him.” Tony hands Zach his card to call if he needs anything and bounced after McGee. They arrived at Q&R Software to find the whole place in chaos. They finally manage to get ahold of an assistant that leads them up to the floor they need to be on.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get back to you right away, Agent McGee. We’ve been having some problems of our own.” Tony’s eyes wandered across the assistant’s slender frame. _Not as muscular as Gibbs, but still pretty._

“What kind of problems?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m only Mr. Connell’s assistant. I’m sure he can-” Just then the lights went out and Tony automatically waved a magical hand over his eyes. “That’s, uh, been happening for the last half hour or so. They should snap back on.” Just before the light snap on, Tony sees a security guard on one of those Segways and he has to pull the lovely assistant out of the way. He holds her body close to his and suddenly a flash of last night’s dream flashes through his mind. _No one touches you, but me._

Tony clears his throat, suddenly nervous, “should send out a memo, no segways during blackouts.” He quickly rights her and backs away from her. McGee looks at him strangely for a moment before Mr. Connell appeared.

“Ms. Osgood? I’ll take it from here.” Laura Osgood walks away, “Frank Connell, Q&R Security. You certainly got here fast.”

The Commander at his side spoke up, “We just found out about the break-in ourselves an hour ago.”

Tony and McGee share a look, _rule 39._ Connell led them to the security offices telling them that at 0300 their network was hacked and a virus was released when they ‘booted’ up their servers for maintenance. Tony let McGee handled the technobabble as he watched the two men in the room with them. Both looked guilty as hell, but it was too early to guess as to what they were guilty of. Laura brought them all coffee and Commander Wilder informed them that the only person who could get Honor to work, was their missing Commander. _Great, first they get Honor, then they get the one guy that can use it._

McGee starts hacking away to try and see if he can help them to figure out their issues, so Tony calls Gibbs to update him. “We may have a problem, boss.”

“May have?”

“The Honor code thingy Commander Tanner was working on may have been stolen. They’re trying to confirm it right now.” Tony walked away from McGee and his technobabble.

“What’s it supposed to do?” Tony can hear the rush of cars in the background.

“Break just about any encryption in use today.” Tony tries for nonchalance, despite the seriousness of the situation.

“Well, yeah, DiNozzo, I’d say that sounds like a problem.”

Tony sighs, _Gibbs isn’t going to like this_ , “It gets worse, boss. According to the people here, Commander Tanner’s the only one who can make it work.”

“Alright, I’m heading your way. Just got to drop off Zach’s pod-thing first.” Gibbs was about to hang up till Tony started shouting.

“Boss!” the panic in Tony’s voice was the only thing that stopped Gibbs from hanging up, “get to Zach! Now, boss, speed if you have to, just go!” Tony hung up on Gibbs and immediately called Social Services. “Zach Tanner, I’m Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, I need to know the kid’s okay. His dad was just kidnapped this morning and I’m one of the Agent’s investigating it.” He waited for what seemed like forever until the secretary came back and informed him that Gibbs was with Zach and that the child would be going into protective custody at NCIS. Tony relaxed at that and called Gibbs back.

“Yeah, Gibbs.”

“Taking Zach to NCIS?”

“Yeah, how did you-”

“Good, McGee and I will meet you back there and we’ll update you then,” Tony hung up before Gibbs could respond and he let out a breath he didn't’ realize he was holding. They made it back to NCIS and got everyone all caught up. Tony met with Ziva on the Director’s floor so she could ask him something. More like Ziva drug him into the elevator, hit the up button, then the emergency stop.

“What was with that comment about your Aunt and Uncle?”

Tony’s jaw clenched, even after all these years, it still stings, “It was nothing, Ziva.”

“It is obviously something, since you won’t talk about it. It’s eating away at your insides, Tony, you should talk to someone.”

  
“Ziva David, are you,  _ worried _ about me?” he deflected her with teasing, usually works.

“I am not _worried_ about you, merely concerned as to your mental well being,” Tony merely raised an eyebrow, “okay, so I’m a little worried. What is going on with you Tony? I know it’s not just me being here, you’ve been acting strange, McGee has noticed it, _I_ have noticed it.”

Tony sighed, “It’s in the past, Ziva. There’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t go back in time and change anything and prosecuting them now would be useless, the only other kid they had in their care they turned into a spoiled brat. It’s fine.”

Ziva leaned back and looked at him for a moment, as if measuring him up. “Okay, Tony, I’ll let it drop. For now.”

They left the elevator and began walking down the stairs. They stopped with they saw Jenny watching Gibbs play with Zach and some gloves. Ziva noticed the look of awe and longing on Jenny’s face, she turned to watch Tony, but he was purposefully not looking at Gibbs.

“New hires just keep getting younger, eh, Madam Director?”

“Obviously, you didn’t get the memo, Agent DiNozzo,” Jenny blinked away her annoyance.

“What memo?”

Ziva speaks up, “the one where it explains the next person who calls her ‘Madam’ gets ‘keel hauled’ … whatever that is.”

Tony winces, “It’s uh…”

“Unpleasant,” Jenny supplies. “Tell Gibbs I want him upstairs.”

They walk up just as Gibbs is blowing air into the glove in his hand to make it expand like a balloon. “What did the director want?”

“You,” the way Ziva said that made Tony think that maybe she was making a reference to how Jenny wanted Gibbs the same way he did. “Upstairs. Oh, I’d better check on those sketches.”

Gibbs looked to Tony expectantly, “I got a BOLO out on the black Chevy Suburban, boss, but without plates… Hey, Zach,” Tony whistles. “Come here, need you.”

Zach quickly moves over to Tony’s desk and he pulls out from his desk and Zach climbs into Tony’s lap without even asking. Tony wrapped his arms around Zach to type at the computer. Gibbs nods, satisfied, and heads up to talk with Jenny.

“You catch a look at the licence plate of that car?”

“He could not possibly-”

“KT2064, I think.” Tony started typing around Zach in his lap as Ziva stared at them.

“How did you know?” Ziva asked Tony.

“He remembered the whole scene with the kidnappers, he was rerunning the scene in his head when we first got to the park, weren’t ya?”

Zach nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, I saw them when I was on the carousel. I thought they looked weird, so I watched them each time I came back around.”

“You did good, kiddo,” Tony finished setting up the BOLO and moved on to employee statements. He was a little surprised when Laura Osgood offered to come to NCIS herself to help him. He told her it wasn’t necessary, but she insisted. _Well, may as well have a little fun_. She arrived and he flirted with her, but never touched her. Ziva watched him with a critical eye, but didn’t confront him until he had escorted her to the elevator.

“Feel like I’ve wasted your time, Agent DiNozzo.” Her lush, full lips purred around his name.

“Bite your tongue,” he continued the flirt. _She’s definitely hiding something_. “You've been great.”

She shook her head and her shoulders dropped, “I just feel so bad for that poor little boy.”

“Well, listen, you think of anything,” He handed her one of his cards. “You give me a call, day or night.” he leered at her so fakely that he was disappointed when she didn’t react to his fakeness. He turned back to head to his desk when Ziva glanced at him with a knowing look.

“Where have you been?” He asks her in an attempt to derail her thoughts. “I could’ve used your help with those interviews.”

“Oh? You look like you had your hands full with her.” he could practically taste the sarcasm

“Watch it with your sexual innuendo around the kid. He’s had a hard day.”

“He’s taking it better than most adults,” she noted. “He’s resilient.”

“Doesn’t mean we need to be adding to it, Ziva.” He glanced over to see him coloring at Gibbs’ desk. He looks thoughtfully at Zach, _kid looks bored._ He quickly moved to the other side of his computer and typed a few keywords into google. He quickly printed off what he wanted and pointedly ignored her calculating look. Tony grabbed the printed papers and set them on Gibbs’ desk next to him. Zach glanced at the papers, Tony saw his eyes light up and the kid grinned his thanks at Tony. He ruffled the kids’ hair a second before heading back to his desk.

Ziva glanced to be sure the kid wasn’t paying attention to them, “Do you have kids, Tony?”

Tony paused for a moment and looked at Zach, “no, Ziva, no kids waiting up at my little bungalow.” He turns back to his computer as he misses Teddy ten times worse than normal. He already regretted not getting to see Teddy as often as he could, but Tony was glad that he had refused to give up Teddy when he disappeared. It was a juggle, but he and Andy had hashed out the details when he had been planning his disappearance from Wizarding Britain, despite her calling him Harry because she forgot his name was 'Tony' now.

“I’m gonna head hit the head,” Zach called out from Gibbs’ desk. Tony nodded his acknowledgement.

Ziva looked at him thoughtfully, he knew that she wouldn’t detect a lie, but she couldn’t seem to let the subject drop, “cousins? Godchildren?” Ziva’s eyes zeroed in on the twitch that Tony couldn’t help at the mentioning of Godchildren, she was impressed. Had she not been looking very intently for a sign, she would have missed the twitch.

“I don’t have any kids, Ziva, drop it,” the growl in his voice enough to rival Gibbs’.

Just then Gibbs came around the corner and flashed him a look of sympathy so quick it had Tony doubting that it had happened at all. “Where’s Zach?”

“Potty break, boss.”

Ziva stood silently in front of Gibbs’ desk until he looked up at her, “You gonna speak?”

“I got an ID on one of our suspects.” Ziva handed him the blue file in her hands, “His name is Vincent Pazzo. Italian born. Freelance mercenary. Black ops, mostly. Some wet work.”

“How’d you find out about that?” Tony was curious as to her connections.

“I sent Zach’s sketches to some people who owe me a favor.” was all she said.

“So they have the Honor program and the guy who knows how to make it work, then the only reason to go after the kid would be to get him to cooperate,” Tony speculated.

“Then there’s the possibility that Commander Tanner set this up to make it look like a kidnapping.” Tony resisted the urge to glare at Ziva, _that didn’t feel right at all. The kid was way too smart and way too close with his dad for that._

Gibbs suddenly stood, looking for Zach, “Keep your voice down.” Tony gave in to that urge to glare at her with her next statement.

“That’s what I would do if it were my op. The authorities are looking for a kidnapper when they should be looking for a traitor.”

“It doesn’t feel right, Ziva,” Gibbs and Tony said at the same time.

She glanced between them, but held her ground, “it doesn’t have to feel right to be right.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony was once more held immobile in the dreamscape. This time he was held immobile by silk rope that lovingly bit into his flesh. His right arm held outstretched, his left plastered to his body. His legs bent and held open, forcing him to remain exposed to Gibbs’ view. There was no blindfold this time, but Tony’s eyes were already glazed over and he was blathering gibberish as Gibbs continually told Tony to describe what he was feeling.

In his hands, Gibbs held an ice cube that circled around the taut nub that was Tony’s nipple. When the water from the melting cube began to fall down Tony’s flank, Gibbs removed the ice cube and gently blew on it. Tony thrashed as much as he could, despite his immobility. Gibbs smiled as Tony continued his broken descriptions and his eyes roamed the body laid before him. His eyes landed on his subordinate’s right arm. There. In the crook of Tony’s arm was a scar. Stark white against tanned flesh, it looked like Tony had been stabbed by something perfectly circular.

Before Gibbs could stop himself, he asked the question, a simple question really, but as his lips kissed at the scar he had been admiring, it came out. “What happened here, Tony?”

“Basilisk bit me as I stabbed it through the roof of it’s mouth with a sword when I was 12. God, Boss that feels amazing,” Tony hurriedly blurted his answer, not even aware of what he was saying.

Gibbs’ body froze as he hovered over Tony. He stared down at the dazed look on Tony’s face, the man wasn’t even aware of what he was saying. Gibbs couldn’t doubt the authenticity of the answer, despite this being some kind of dream world. He had a fleeting thought to wake himself up from this dream. Till DiNozzo started talking again.

“God- Please- Boss- Need- You- Need you, please Boss fuck me,” Tony begged, and Gibbs’ resolve broke. He crushed his lips to DiNozzo’s and ran his hand down to feel Tony’s entrance. Just like damn near every other dream Tony was already wet and ready for him. He positioned himself at Tony’s entrance and slowly pushed into the pliant body before him. He only entered in an inch or so before he pulled himself back out completely.

Tony’s head thudded against the pillow in frustration, and he continued his broken begging. The grin came unbidden to Gibbs’ face as he continued his pattern of entering one or two inches and removing himself completely. He continued until Tony began to thrash against the rope enough for the rope to creak at the strain.

Gibbs snapped his hips forward and fully sheathed himself inside Tony’s body. He grinned at Tony’s scream of pleasure and latched his mouth to Tony’s neck as he moved his hips in earnest. Gibbs rutted against him with Tony grunting in time with his thrusts. A hand came down and pinched the nipple that had been iced earlier. Tony continued his sounds of pleasure, no longer able to form words as Gibbs slid in and out of him easily.

A hard pinch and a growl against his throat were all the warning Tony had before he felt a warmth fill him as Gibbs came. The combination of sensations drove Tony over the edge and swore he blanked out as he came, despite being in a dreamscape.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony was excited, the BOLO had come back on the SUV and if he could have he would have slid into the Bullpen and pulled the info up on his computer before calling out, “got a trace on the Chevy Suburban. Zach got the place completely right, and we found our vehicle!” He grabbed the clicker, “rental car out of Maryland. ID’s fake, credit card was stolen, but that’s our other kidnapper.”

“Does the car have a navigation system, cause then we can use GPS.” _Way ahead of you probie._

“Two words for you, McGee: Lo, and Jack.”

“That’s one word.”

“A What?” Ziva looked between them, looking completely lost.

“It’s, uh- whatever. Tracked it down to a parking lot a couple miles from here.” Tony looked smugly over at Gibbs who had come up behind the group.

“Good job, DiNozzo.” Tony saw a silent pride in his gaze and nodded his silent appreciation. “Come on, let’s roll!”

“Where’s the child?” Ziva asked them.

“With Abby,” Tony called back as they headed for the elevator.

The building that the Lojack told them the Suburban was in was within walking distance, but they didn't want to waste any time and drove to the parking structure. Tony pulled out his binoculars and double checked the presence of their target. “Got it, boss. Black SUV, no rear window. One visible suspect in the vehicle. Should we take him now?”

He spoke into a mic that was connected to Gibb’s ear radio, “Wait. I’m almost in position here.”

“Copy.” He waited and handed Ziva the binoculars so she could take a look as well. He turned to look at her, “Sure you wouldn’t rather be partnered with McGee? I mean the two of you seem to click, and, uh, we’re about to storm this vehicle. Who knows what’s gonna go down.”

“Don’t worry, Tony. I got your back.”

“Just wanting to make sure you’re comfortable with me at _your_ back,” Tony says quietly as he shifted back to looking at their target.

“Tony-” Ziva began.

“In position, boss.” McGee called over the radio before Gibbs ordered them to move in and all thoughts of personal conversations left their minds for the time being and they focused on the job. They moved with practiced ease and Ziva opened the door to reveal Pizzo, dead.

“Well, that’s disappointing, boss,” Tony saw the frustration and anger building in his boss and knew that Gibbs needed a release.

“Ya think, DiNozzo,” Tony grinned at Gibbs’ growl. _That should hold him over till I go through this evidence in more detail, maybe I’ll find a good lead._

However, when Tony comes back from the evidence garage he sees Gibbs getting in McGee’s face and he knows he has to run interference...again. ”Been going through the evidence we bagged form the vehicle boss,” _come on, you know the probie can’t handle you, direct your attention over to Tony DiNozzo, come on._ “Prepaid burn phone,” Finally Gibbs looked to him, all thoughts of Tim flying out the window, “guess whose number’s on the caller ID. Frank Connell, Q  & R Office.

The whole team went to serve the warrant, this was one of Tony’s favorite parts, when the perp came in while they were serving the Warrant and acted all surprised.

“What the hell is going on here?” Tony grinned at Connell’s opening statement.

“I couldn’t stop them, Mr. Connell.”

“Not her fault, she was overwhelmed by a Federal Search Warrant.” Tony handed him the warrant.

“This is completely out of line, I have been nothing but cooperative.” He looked so cute when confused.

“Explain why you called the kidnappers from this office the day the Honor code went missing.”

“That’s a ridiculous accusation,” he angrily handed back the warrant.

“Denying you were here?”

“I said in my statement, I was working late that night.” _Good catch_.

“So you made the call,” Gibbs came out of nowhere.

There was a sudden beeping coming from McGee and the computer, “Someone’s tampered with this hard drive. Tried to erase the command logs morning of the robbery.”

“We had a virus.” Connell leapt to that defense. “I corrupted thousands of files.”

“That what happened, McGee?” Gibbs leaned over the desk and Tony found himself envious of McGee for a moment.

“Can’t tell till I get it back to the lab.”

Gibbs seemed to almost dance into action, apparently he was as excited by these leads as Tony was, “Okay, bag and tag.”

“You cannot remove that computer from this building,” _yeah, that sounded weak even to my ears buddy._

“Don’t worry, you’re going with it,” Tony smiled brightly at their little perp.

“Go up and call the lawyers,” he told his assistant. _Damn lawyering up already._

Tony began reading his Miranda Rights as they left the building. The ride back to NCIS was uneventful and boring, Connell didn’t even say anything the whole car ride over. Not even an insistence of innocence. It was getting darker outside and Tony had the feeling he was going to be here well into the night. _Good, then I don’t have to go home and wallow in my self misery_. He was just walking back to his desk with a file when he saw Ziva.

“Gibbs got Connell talking yet?” Ziva asked him, he was wondering when she would bring up the kid thing again and was wary around her.

“Lawyer won’t let him talk, so Gibbs is giving him the ol’ stare.” Tony then gave her a poor imitation. _Keep her talking about everything else and maybe the kid thing will slip her mind._

“Gibbs does it much better,” she said with a grimace. She walked off to put her apple on McGee’s desk.

“Apple for teacher?”

“It’s for McGee. He’s been very generous with me, helping me adjust to this new city.” She carefully placed the apple on his desk.

“So you’re giving him an apple?”

“It’s a small gesture, meant to promote health, one would think that someone with your experience with children would know that.” _There it is._

“But if you’re wanting to thank him, why not just get him a date?” Tony said, completely ignoring the kid remark. “Gibbs wants to know if you got anything he can use on Connell.”

Ziva narrowed her eyes at him, she knew what he was doing, but now that they were talking about work, she wouldn’t deviate from that topic for a minute. “Frank Connell’s a deacon at his church,” she shot Tony a look that that subject would come back, “never had a moving violation, let alone a parking ticket and he calls his mother every Sunday. The man is spic and spam.”

“The saying is ‘spic and span.’ Spam is lunch meat.”

“Oh, is that what you feed that child you have such experience with,” she dug for a moment.

Tony rolled his eyes at her, as we went to sit back down in silence. When she realized that Tony was simply going to ignore that subject she changed tactics to the other issue on her mind. “In my opinion, Frank Connell’s not involved in this.”

“Good, I’ll let Gibbs know right away,” Tony said, not even looking up as he picked up the phone, poised to dial, “‘cause you know how he _loves_ to hear our opinions.”

Ziva pursed her lips and pulled the phone out of Tony’s hand and put it in it’s cradle, “He’s distracted by his affections for Zach.”

“Gibbs doesn’t get distracted.” Tony went back to his computer.

“What do you call it then?” she asked accusingly.

Fed up with her questioning, Tony got up, “the Boss moves in mysterious ways. Get this to him,” he tossed a folder onto her desk.

“Why me?” she whined.

“‘Cause I’m gonna go see your little buddy McGee,” Tony picked up the apple Ziva had intended for Tim.

“Hey, put that back.”

“I’m just bringing it to him,” _eaten._ Tony smiled smugly to himself.

Tony struts off the elevator and glances at Chip, the resident Lab assistant. Chip didn’t even look up to acknowledge his presence, so he rolled right along, “Progress report, McGee.”

“Uh, well, I think Frank Connell put a trace on Commander Tanner’s computer.”

“Think?” He took a bite of the apple.

“Well, I’ve got scraps of code, protocols, and commands. He might have put the trace in, collected Tanner’s passwords, stolen the software.” Tony rested back as Abby laid into McGee.

“‘Might have’ and ‘think’ are not gonna make Gibbs happy.” Abby used air quotes to place disdain on certain words.

McGee sighed at them, “well, whoever wiped these files did a really good job, because there’s nothing left but fragments. Can’t Gibbs just break Connell in interrogation?”

“Not with the $500-an-hour defense attorney breathing down his neck. Puts it on you, McGee.” Tony twirled the apple in his hands.

“Well, nothing I have found contradicts any of the evidence we have against Commander Tanner,” McGee looked at Tony with such a hopeless look on his face that Tony knew he needed to find some and quick.

“I’m with you, Probie. But he’s feeling pretty strong about this one.” Tony reminded them.

A thoughtful look crossed Tim’s face. “Anyone considered the fact that Gibbs may be wrong this time?”

Abby gasped and Tony was suddenly glad he was on the opposite side of the desk as her. “McGee,bite your tongue. Gibbs knows what he’s doing, we just have to show him love.”

“We show the love, Abby.” Tony reeled her back in. “Just don’t want to let the bad guys get away while we’re doing it.” Tony threw the apple into the trash can, which Chip almost blocked completely. “Almost blocked my shot there, Chipper. You ever play ball?”

“College,” _Okay some major aggressiveness from him. What’s going on with you?_

Tony met Chips eyes as they continued their conversation, Chip was mostly chanting to himself to not blow up and _Not yet_ kept passing through his mind. Chip began blinking rapidly and Tony couldn’t maintain eye contact without magical help which would give him away. So he quickly made his escape.

He and Ziva spend most of the night digging through what they could of Connell’s life, trying to find an angle that Gibbs could work in Interrogation. Or something that would get the lawyer off their backs. McGee was down with Abby scouring through the computer again so it was just him and Ziva, alone, in the bullpen.

“So you don’t have any siblings so you don’t have any nieces or nephews. Cousins? Maybe?” Ziva wondered aloud.

“Drop it Ziva, I’m not going to tell you-” Tony’s eyes widened, Zach was in distress! “I’m going on break, be back soon,” Tony took off and once he was in the corner of the parking garage where the camera wouldn’t show him, he aparated to the area where Zach was with a quiet ‘pop’. He looked up at Gibbs’ house and took out his SIG.

He heard Zach shouting, “My dad didn’t do anything wrong,” his voice coming to Tony from the magical pen he had given Zach. Tension rolled out of Tony’s shoulders and he looked to the driveway to see the Director’s car in the driveway. Tony shook his head, _should’ve thought of that when putting that spell on the pen and handing it to a kid._ Tony made his way back to the shadowed area he came out of. Tony aparated back to the spot in the Garage and made his way back up to the bullpen.

“What was that about?” Ziva looked at him equal parts concerned and calculating.

“Nothing, just remembered I needed to call my nephew,” Tony smiled at her.

“You don’t have a nephew,” she narrowed her eyes at the obvious lie.

“No, I don’t. Now would you just drop the kid subject, you’re never going to get it out of me,” Tony smiled over at her. _Being far scarier than you have tried_.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This time the dreamscape dropped Tony in the type of scene he did not expect. His senses came to him and he found himself kissing the object of his desires. Just kissing, not that that wasn’t hot mind you, but he hadn’t really been expecting anything so _tame_ tonight. Tony had started thinking that maybe he was sharing dreams with Gibbs’ subconscious mind that his magic, for whatever reason, made some sort of link between them.

He knew Gibbs had to be angry and frustrated at the case, so why wasn’t his back being kissed by that sweet sweet leather? He got his answer when Gibbs began to trial hot kisses down his throat. “Just need to feel you, DiNozzo.”

Tony shuddered at the raw need he heard in Gibbs’ voice. _Is it just me or does Gibbs sound, lonely?_ He lay his head back against Gibbs’ couch and let Gibbs explore. Slowly, button by button, Tony’s shirt was removed from his torso. As every bit of skin was exposed it was loved and doted on by Gibbs’ mouth. His mouth and fingers slowly caressed and found every scar on Tony’s skin.

“Doin’ a lot more than feeling, b-boss,” Tony’s breath hitched as Gibbs’ fingers hovered over a particularly sensitive scar across his ribs from when he was 14 and had faced an actual dragon.

“Want to taste,” was all he said before his lips and tongue continued to lick and kiss at his flesh. “Then again, tasting usually involves teeth.”

Tony gasped as a hot, wet mouth descended on his left pectoral, just above his heart. He felt teeth biting and pulling at the skin there and Tony writhed beneath the body of hard steel that held him in place.

“Boss,” he whimpered beneath the sensation.

Gibbs’ mouth came off his skin with a pop that honestly shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was, “yes?”

Tony didn’t need to look at his boss to know that Gibbs had his teasing smile on his face and a teasing light in his eye. However, because Tony never looked down at the face of his boss, he never saw the calculating look in Gibbs’ eye, nor the determination. The same look Gibbs’ had had when hunting Ari. Gibbs had a new puzzle to solve, and it was there, right before him. Willing to be unraveled, at least to some extent.

“Please, boss, you’re torturing me,” Tony pleaded with the man before him.

“Yes, but I’m having fun, DiNozzo. Isn’t that what this is all about? Me having fun?” There was a calculating element to Gibbs’ voice that Tony didn’t hear, too great was his need for more.

“Whatever you need, Boss,” Tony gasped out as fingers ghosted across his dick, _When did that get naked?_

“So it’s about what I _need_ ,” gentle lips caressed against the column of Tony’s throat. A clothed knee rested between Tony’s legs, right up against his balls, he shuddered at the contact. Tony’s hips came upwards of their own accord and he would have continued to motion had it not been for Gibbs’ growl and a hand at his hip to hold him in place.

“Answer me, DiNozzo, what is _this_ about,” Gibbs’ lips left his neck and he felt Gibbs’ nose in his hair, breathing deeply, “What the hell is _this_?”

Tony held himself very still and tried to fight his way back to coherency, he knew now that he was for sure sharing this with at least Gibbs’ subconscious mind. _Does that mean my magic linked our dreams?_ Tony shuddered at the reminder of the last person who had had access to his dreams. _No, this wasn’t the same by a long shot._ “It’s what _we_ need, boss. You need the stress relief just as much as I do. Just sit back and enjoy the dreams.”

Tony began kissing at the throat before him as Gibbs still hadn’t moved from pinning him to the couch while sniffing his hair. Gibbs shuddered above him, as if the cracks in the dam of his control were causing the dam to break. Tony smiled to himself, _just a little push_ . “Whip me, paddle me, stuff me with your cock over and over again. Just know that _this_ is what we _both_ need.”

Gibbs’ infamous jaw clench was his only warning before he was flipped over the back of the couch with expert practice. Tony barely enough time to wonder if the skill was Gibbs’ or the dream’s before Gibbs rammed into Tony, their hips meeting in a loud slap of flesh. Tony’s head flew back as he screamed in pleasure.

Gibbs’ hand wrapped around his torso and held him upright as Gibbs rutted their hips together in that continuous slap of flesh. Teeth scraped against Tony’s jawline, neck, and ear before Gibbs growled his release shortly after Tony’s.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony ran up the next day just as Gibbs was about to let Ziva loose on Connell, “I’d hold off on that, boss.”

“DiNozzo, where have you been?” _Is that, concern?_ _No, can’t be, annoyance and anger, yep._

“Tracking down the convenience store where our dead guy purchased his cell phone. Not easy, by the way. The language barrier between me and Mr. Singh was no piece of cake, either,” Tony made his way over to McGee’s desk, relishing in the feel of Gibbs’ eyes on him as he passed. “But once I convinced him I wasn’t gonna shut down his convenience store,” Tony picked up a pastry from McGee’s desk. “He gave me his surveillance videotapes.”

“Where is the video?” Gibbs barked.

“Abby’s lab, sorry, Boss. She’s scanning the tapes now.” Tony ran after Gibbs, tossing McGee’s food back at him, then allowed himself a glance down his boss’ backside. They got down there to see Abby already scouring through the tapes.

“The phone was purchased with cash a week before Commander Tanner disappeared.”

“Pause the tape,” Gibbs called out as Tony stared at the screen. _I know that jawline, that neck, that-_ “That woman’s got four phones in her hands.”

“Zoom in Abs,” Tony called out, just to be sure. _Lips, chin, neck-_

“Okay, we got it, Tony,” _oops, I said that aloud_ , “she’s attractive.”

“That’s Laura Osgood, Frank Connell’s assistant,” _it’s confirmed, I’m awesome._ Tony grinned, feeling proud of himself. Just as he was about to leave with the team to pick her up, his phone rang.

“Harry?” Tony froze at the familiar voice, he pulled Gibbs to the side.

“One sec, Andy.” He covered the receiver. He smiled as she continued talking.

“Oh well, I’ll just wait then, I’m sure you more important things than to worry about little ole me.”

“Sorry boss, I’ll stay back with Zach and you go on and pick up Laura.”

“Laura? Who’s Laura? Don’t make me put on the bat ears to over hear your conversation Harry.” Tony winced at Andy’s words. Gibbs looked at him curiously for a moment, then gave him a look expecting answers later. Gibbs left with Ziva and Tim, Tony turned his attention back to Andy.

“Hey, Andy. How’s Teddy?”

“He’s fine, he just misses his Godfather, are you sure you can’t visit sooner,” Andy broke off in a fit of coughing.

Tony’s face furrowed with worry, “it’s the soonest I can get there through traditional methods, but if you need me I can just, ‘pop’ over there.”

“You can ‘pop’ over here from there? Sometimes I forget how powerful you are dear, but no, it’s just Teddy has been missing you and, well I heard about a breathing treatment out of St. Mungos, but it requires that I be there for at least a month. So…” she trailed off.

“You need someone to watch Teddy. I’d love to, but the time difference won’t be easy on him.”

“Oh posh, he’s young, he’ll bounce between the time difference as if it were nothing, he certainly takes enough naps. This won’t be a problem with your work?”

“No Andy, there are plenty of parents where I work, besides, unless I get a case I work mainly normal business hours, outside of that I have lovely neighbors that would love to meet the Godson I keep buying toys for,” the smile fell from Tony’s face when he turned and saw none other than Director Sheppard behind him, smiling at him. Tony swallowed nervously, “I’ll pick him up once this case is wrapped up, which should be soon. kay, talk to you later, Love you Andy bye.”

Tony quickly hung up before Andy could call him Harry again, he was going to have to talk with her and Teddy about that.

“I didn’t know you had a godson, Agent DiNozzo,” her smile was teasing, but her eyes were calculating. Ziva would definitely know about Teddy before the day was out.

“Yeah, he lives with his grandmother, Andy, she hasn’t been doing too good since-” Tony cleared his throat, “Since T-Teddy’s mom-” Tony grimaced. _Yeah, make it just painful enough to be awkward_.

Jenny nodded sharply, “say no more. Whatever you need, just let me know.”

“Actually, Director? I don’t normally talk about Teddy here, because of, well, I’m in a lot of danger and I don’t want any of that danger to land on him. So the less people who know about him,” he trailed off, hoping Jenny would get the hint.

“The safer he’ll be. You don’t want him talked about at work or around work lest the wrong person let something slip at an inopportune time,” Jenny smiled at him. He nodded his thanks and went off to check on Zach.

Gibbs’ call came about an hour after they left to pick up Laura. They had Commander Tanner’s location and Tony was going to meet them there. He arrived and helped them with the rescue, apparently the Commander had been tortured by professionals and no one had seen fit to inform Tony until they were about to rescue him. Tanner started talking about how they had proof they had taken Zach, in the form of the kid’s iPod. Tony and Gibbs had shared a look over that.

Commander Wilder was the only one that would have had access to Zach or his iPod.

They cornered the soon to be former-Commander Wilder and Tony enjoyed the show of Gibbs taking the man down and holding a gun to the man’s face. “I’m not resisting,” _Yeah, good choice._

“Too bad,” Gibbs sighed in disappointment.

“I could have never hurt Zach. It was strictly business,” he said as if that made it all better.

“Not all hurt is physical,” Tony glared down at Wilder before hauling him up and cuffing him. Tony didn’t see the thoughtful look Gibbs gave his second in command.

Wilder was being booked, a pleasure that Tony left for his probie to do, and Tony got a jump start on the paperwork involved in closing out a case. Zach was sipping a hot chocolate by the window and Tony kept an ear out for the kid. He heard Gibbs approach and talk to the kid.

“Commander Wilder was my dad’s- He was _my_ friend, Gibbs,” Tony’s lips twitched into a smile. Kid sounded so much like Gibbs it was unreal. “I should have known.” Tony froze at the kid’s statement. _I should have known. So simple, but it didn’t stop my dad from trusting one of his best friends throughout school._ Tony shook his head, even now, years after the fact, he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Peter had been one of his dad’s best friends. A Marauder.

“Dad!” Zach’s excited squeal brought Tony out of his head in time to see Ziva arrive with Commander Tanner. He envied Zach for a moment, for a moment, Tony wanted nothing more than to be held by his father, just once. Tony shook his head and resigned himself to things that would never be.

Suddenly there was a tapping on his desk. He looked up and saw Zach standing there holding his ‘lightning bolt’ pen. Zach smiled knowingly, “Thanks Tony, I don’t need this anymore.”


	5. Frame-Up

Teddy had just gone back to England, back to Andy, so Tony was looking for some distraction to take his mind off of missing his godson.  _ Oh, hello there Judge my tush.com you seem perfectly suited to my needs at the moment _ . He started to get lost in the ratings when Ziva started complaining. McGee came over to investigate and Tony quickly covered up his computer. 

“Hey! A little privacy here, Probie.” Tony shooed the Probie back to his desk, however he did notice that McGee had raised his jacket and Ziva judged the Probie’s tush at a four...out of five. Deciding to go with it, Tony leaned against the copier that sat behind his desk. “What about this one?”

He saw her eyes linger for a moment, “no, I will not get involved with this any further.”

“Come on,” Tony swayed his hips side to side and held his butt in different angles, encouraging her. 

“Gibbs always seems to be right around the corner,” Ziva looked around, but her arguments were cut off by his incessant encouragement. 

“Give it a little something,” Tony smacked his ass playfully, “Rate it.”

She groaned a bit, “fine,” a glint entered her eye, “a two.”

“Two?!”

“I dunno, DiNozzo, I’d rate it a five,” Gibbs said in a low voice from behind Tony’s head as both he and his ass faced Ziva. At Ziva’s curious glance, she didn’t hear what Gibbs had said, but Tony had froze. 

“Boss?” Tony tensed in waiting anticipation, but the blow to the back of the head never came, at least not then.

“Grab your gear. We’re going to Quantico.” Gibbs led off with Tim and Tony blocked Ziva from following.

“Two?” he asked, knowing that without Tim around for her to show off to, he was more likely to get an honest answer out of her. 

“I took three points off for excessive hair,”  _ they don’t call me Harry-oh wait they don’t call me Harry anymore, and after this visit neither will Andy and Teddy in the future-wait. Three points. She rated my ass a five! _

“That’s a five.” he eyed her for a moment.

“Yes,” she started giggling, “if you shave.” Tony shook his head at his team’s antics and forgot all about Gibbs’ all important comment about rating Tony’s ass.

They arrived at the base at Quantico and found that they had to trek through a bit of wilderness to get to the crime scene. Ducky was trying to be a helpful gentleman to Ziva, who was a strong independent woman. The irony was not lost on Tony that they immediately fell into the creek after Ziva had declared her independence. 

The sergeant walked them through how he had discovered the legs at the campsite/crime scene. “They were under this bush here, until I, uh, moved one to here.”

Tim took pictures, while Tony sketched, Ziva was left to collect evidence. Gibbs was still looking over the legs, “Teenagers?”

“Said they never noticed the legs.”  _ well that was unhelpful _ . Tony finished his sketches and went to help Ziva bag and tag.  _ Knowing Gibbs he’ll want  _ every _ stinking piece of garbage, well at least Abby will be happy. _

“Well, I’m afraid a liver temp is out of the question.” Ducky looked down at the legs.

“Talk to me, Duck.”

“It’s very strange. The marbling on the skin indicates advanced decomposition. But the complete lack of insect activity on the moist area of the open thigh indicates a cessation of decay.” Tony felt sorry for Ducky, it must be hard for the ME when they didn’t have an entire body to attach their limbs to.

“Any idea how long?” Gibbs asked as they squat over the legs. Tony found himself glancing at Gibbs.

“Well, the muscles have gone through all three stages of rigor mortis, so that gives us at least 48 hours. But, Jethro, the leg is in pristine condition, apparently untouched by air, water, soil, or insect.”  _ Gibbs legs are in pristine condition. Stop it! _ Tony nearly gave himself a headslap for that one. 

“Frozen?”

Ducky grunted a negative, “no ice crystals.”

“Basement,” _there’s a certain basement I’d like to go to. Merlin-Fuck, Goddamnit, stop it, DiNozzo!_ _No having inappropriate thoughts at the crime scene._

“If that’s the case, we are dealing with a dark soul, one who kills, cuts and keeps.” 

Tony made his way back over to Ziva before his brain connected with his mouth and one of his mental thoughts spilled over. He took a picture of Ziva, with the flash in her face. Ziva smirked at him and pointedly began bagging and tagging the trash. Tony smiled at Ziva and Tim told them about a FLETC instructor who had thrown in a pregnancy test to throw them off during practice. 

“Well, Abby sure is going to be a happy camper with all this evidence for her,” Tony said brightly before he saw Gibbs coming over.  _ Oh shit, can’t you give my brain filters a chance to reset, Boss _ . The teasing grin on Gibbs’ face almost made Tony think that Gibbs’ was reading his mind.  _ Yeah, right, Gibbs a Legitamins. Wait. _ Tony made casual eye contact with Gibbs and thought as hard as he could about the dream he had had with Gibbs’ subconscious the night before.  _ Nope, no reaction, not a legitamins _ . 

Tony stopped for a second,  _ seriously, it took me four years to think of that? _ Tony shook his head at his own carelessness. The evidence was bagged and tagged and they headed back to NCIS where Ducky and Gibbs conferred over the legs. Tony let Tim and Ziva pour over their equations for a minute before he offered up his opinion, “She’s what? 5’8” 125-126 pounds.” 

He’s suddenly glad for the two years after Hogwarts that he had spent under Hermione’s tutelage learning Arithmancy and Spell Creation. He grinned over at Tim and Ziva after they had input all the calculations and reached his conclusion. Shortly thereafter Gibbs called him down to Abby’s lab,  _ just me or did Gibbs sound worried? _

He went down to Abby’s Labby, as she preferred it to be called, and Gibbs explained that  _ he _ was the match found at the crime scene, “I don’t know what to tell you, Boss.”

Images of Sirius’ wanted poster flashed through his mind,  _ my Godfather was wrongfully imprisoned for twelve years. Is that going to happen to me? _ Tony glanced worriedly over at Gibbs,  _ no, Gibbs won’t stand for it _ . _ Wait. The second my name hits the courts, Wizarding Law takes precedence. _

“Maybe his glove ripped at the crime scene,” McGee offered helpfully. They poured out their trash from the crime scene and after Abby angrily laid out each glove to show that none had a ripped finger, Tony sat down. 

“When’s the last time you worked a case at Quantico, DiNozzo,”  _ Yep definitely worried, I’m fucked.  _

“Napolitano case, Boss,” Tony’s voice sounded meek to his own ears. Abby started talking about points on his fingerprint, then Chip came in with his downer.

“Technically, the minimum to go to court is one.” Chip’s face looked blank, but Tony saw a hint of smugness in his face. 

“Well, that’s great, Chipper. Team Player, that one, Boss,” Tony turned back to Gibbs and saw his own worry reflected back. Tony pointed at Ziva, across from Chip, but kept his gaze on Chip, “You set this up, didn’t you?”

Chip looked panicked for a moment before Ziva responded, “I would never. Okay, maybe I would, but I didn’t.” Tony went back to staring at his matched fingerprint on the screen. He felt Gibbs come up beside him.

A warm hand appeared on Tony’s shoulder, “when’s the last time you were at the dentist?”

Tony turned his head and looked at Gibbs,  _ What? I’m being framed for murder and suddenly the quips dry up in my head? _ He didn’t know whether he liked where Gibbs was thinking.  Ducky came up and before he could blink, Tony was sitting in Abby’s lab with Ducky pressing a dental mold onto his teeth.

“Couldn’t you have accessed my dental records?” Tony asked, though how Ducky understood him is a miracle.  _ Then again Ducky has seen me in the hiccuping stage of pre-sobbing, so… _

“This is far faster and more accurate than x-rays,” Tony saw Gibbs smile out of the corner of his eye.  _ Well, I got Gibbs to smile, life goal achieved, guess I can be carted off to prison now.  _

“You’re not known for your bedside manner, are you there, Duck?” Tony sloshed his tongue around his mouth, trying to get rid of the taste. Tony almost caught a glimpse of Gibbs’ face before Ducky took his attention.

Ducky chuckled good naturedly, “You’re just upset that I didn’t have peppermint. McGee!”

“Here’s Tony,” Abby called out, “The program uses laser scans of 3-D objects to create 3-D images for comparison.” Abby explained.

“Computer-Generated Hollow Volume Overlay. Measures inter-tooth spacing, dental arch, and tooth thickness.”

“Alright, enough of the geek speak,”  _ really don’t want to listen to you explain how you’re framing me Chip. Bad enough I know and can’t say anything. Yet. _

“Here’s Ducky’s muscle tissue scan. A little 3-D magic for clarity… and I give you the killer’s incisors. Next Step,”  _ oddly enough, don’t mind Abby’s geek speak. _ “And don’t worry, Tony- the chances of even one of your teeth matching are like 100,000 to one.”  _ Can I bet on those odds, cause I’m pretty sure that with how smug Chip is dancing around in his head, they’re  _ all _ going to match. _

“Do it, Abby,” Gibbs voice sounded like the final nail in the coffin for Tony. Sure enough, two seconds later his teeth matched up and Tony hung his head in defeat. 

“Go to your desk, Tony. Tim, Ziva, stay with him,” Gibbs ordered and stalked out. 

Tony ran his hand through his hair, a nervous tic he hadn’t done in at least twelve years. He went quietly into the elevator with Tim and Ziva on either side. They escorted him to his desk and he immediately pulled out a sheet of paper. 

“Tony, what are you doing,” Tim asked him.

“Well, Probie, I’m making a list of people who would want to frame me for murder,” Tony said with over the top sarcasm.

Tim looked sheepish, “sorry, Tony, what can I do to help?”

Tony rubbed his forehead, “I don’t know, Probie.”  _ I can’t tell you to look into why Chip would want to frame me, unless… _

“DiNozzo!”

“Yeah, Boss,” Tony tried for jovial, he really did. 

“What are you doing?”

“Somebody’s setting me up. I was trying to think of anyone who would frame me for this,” Tony went back to his list and continued writing. Exhausting every pathway in his mind. Just in case it wasn’t Chip.

“So arrestees with grudges,” Ziva offered.

“Ex-girlfriends,” Tim offered next. 

Tony rolled his eyes, “you see my dilemma.”

“Mike Macaluso?” Tim read over his shoulder.

“It’s a mafia boss DiNozzo busted in Baltimore.” Gibbs supplied.

“They get a little touchy when they think of you as family and you turn out to be a cop.”

“What about that forensic dweeb that you got fired.” Abby offered.

“Maybe, you know all he’d have to do is go through my trash to get prints or bite mold,” Tony added to Abby’s theory.  _ Thank you Abby, I love you forever and a day for opening that door.  _ Ziva looked at them all confused.

“Forensic tech set a killer free when he contaminated some blood samples, Tony reported him.” Tim offered. 

“Good old George Stewart.”

“Yep, eight years, three different forces, I want a complete list.” Tony’s eyes widened.

“That’s a lot of names and people to remember, boss.”  _ And I already know it’s Chip. _

“Ziva, you take the women. McGee, the men. I’ll pull case files of the ones Tony put away who aren’t on the list.” Gibbs walked over and stood over Tony’s desk as he wrote his notes down on a corner of Tony’s desk. Tony breathed deep of the comforting smell of Gibbs as he wanted nothing more than to bury his face in his arms and go back to bed. 

However, plans for Tony going to his own bed for the night went down the toilet when the elevator dinged and Fornell came walking out with Special Agent Sacks. Tony leaned towards Gibbs a moment before he nodded for Fornell and him to talk. They went over by the window and Tony heard their conversation due to his eavesdropping spells.

“He’s being framed,” Gibbs sounded like he was pleading with Fornell. 

“I believe you,” Fornell sounded honest for once. “I’ve been there myself, Jethro. I’ll take care of him.”  _ Yeah, right until my name hits the Court System and the American Magical Law Enforcement will come and take me away. _

“I know, but I want to be kept in the loop.”

“Well, now, I’m hurt. You saying you don’t trust me?”

“Whoever set this up, Tobias, is a pro.”  _ or a forensic tech that works inside this building. With me. Everyday.  _ “If this were to go to court right now, DiNozzo would not stand a chance.” _ Yeah till AMLE arrived, took me away, found out I was framed, and found out I was Harry Potter. _ Tony’s jaw clenched and he rubbed his hand across his mouth to keep his mouth from speaking. 

“Well, I got to take him into custody for questioning. Or, I guess...we could question him here.” Fornell finally followed Gibbs’ wish and they came back over to the center of the Bullpen.

“Tony, Fornell’s going to question you.”

“You mean interrogate,” Tony eyed the agent Fornell had brought with him.

“Question.” Gibbs corrected before lowering his voice, “draw it out.”

“After we talk to Agent DiNozzo, we’ll need to requisition any evidence involved in the case.” Sacks nodded his seriousness, Tony nodded his understanding to Gibbs who nodded back. Ziva looked around, mildly curious at everyone’s nodding. Tony followed after them silently as he gathered his thoughts. 

“Where were you Tuesday night between 0900 and 0300 the next morning?”

“Jumping right into it then, Sacks,” _ no way am I telling you about the bomb-ass party I had for Teddy before he went back home.  _ Tony smiled and acted like he was reminiscing about a wild night of partying of a different kind. 

“Just run through your night, DiNozzo.”

“Okay.”  _ Well first I went home after getting off work at 1700, picked up Teddy from my neighbors. Made sure he was packed to leave at around 0200 so we could meet Andy at St. Mungos. Then I called for a pizza, cause that kid loves american pizza now thanks to his uncle Tony.  _ He saw Sacks getting more and more annoyed.

“Oh you meant out loud. Worked till 1700. Went for a run,”  _ after Teddy ate almost a whole gallon of ice cream, _ “drove home. Spent the night alone, which, I know, is unusual, but it was a school night and I wanted to watch  _ Magnum _ .” Tony was glad that after that gallon of Ice Cream, Teddy was okay with watching American Television. Luckily, Tony had discovered PI Magnum in like his first week in America, back in 1993. 

Sacks looked at him critically for a moment, “What was it about?”

Tony began chuckling, “the old checking-the-plot ploy. You’re good, Agent Sacks. Very good. It was my favorite  _ Magnum _ \- it’s the one where, uh, he finds himself adrift at sea after a boating accident and vividly relives his father’s death during the korean war.”  _ Yeah, Teddy’s question of ‘why doesn’t he just apparate off the island?’ had lit up my night _ . Tony grinned over at his interrogator. 

Sacks sighed, “I’m gonna go out on a limb here. You think you were framed.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Mmhmm, and who do you think it was who framed you?” _ Chip, but I can’t say that because he is an NCIS employee and I’m about to take after my Godfather _ . 

“Well, any one of a hundred people, maybe. I have a list, if you’re interested.” Tony tried his best to look contrite.

“Do you realize the kind of trouble you’re in here, DiNozzo?”  _ More than you realize. _

“Oh, believe me, I do,” Tony said seriously for a moment before he turned to stalling again. “Do you realize that you have an enormous clump of something green between your teeth? It’s right there,” Tony brought his hand up to his mouth to indicate the spot. Tony leaned back with a thoughtful look on his face. 

“You have any kids, Sacks? I don’t have any personally, but sometimes you wonder. Having a little spawn of yourself running around, bumping into things.” Tony started chuckling, “you know, I have this really cool scar, on my hip-”

“You’re wasting my time,”  _ now he catches on _ . Sacks then got up and left Tony sitting in the interrogation room, alone.  _ Well, there is something I’ve always wanted to check out _ . Tony then proceeded to beat on the table as if it were a drum.  _ Hmm, table works pretty good. _ He then stopped and used the two-way as a regular mirror to check out his hair. It took at least half an hour every morning to tame it down from the mop it had been throughout school. 

Gibbs finally walked in, “Finally. How’d I do?”

Gibbs met his gaze evenly, “fine.”  _ Shit. _ Tony waited silently for Fornell to come into the room. “Fornell’s not going to book you.”

“But he is going to take me into custody till you figure this out,” Tony’s hand came up and ran through his hair again. _I could really go for a drink, or a dream. Quick Gibbs fall asleep so I can let you whip me and I can relax._ _Yep, all these secrets are making me lose it_. Tony sighed and followed Fornell quietly as he left the building.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Abby was sad. It was a sad day. Forensics had never failed her before. Now Forensics was telling her that her best friend was a murderer.  _ There has to be something more _ . Abby got onto her computer and did some deep digging into Tony,  _ maybe there’s someone in his deep past that is trying to get at him _ . 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony lay in his cell and wondered at the conditions of Azkaban prison. He had never been able to force himself to check it out. The dementors got to him too much. His nose twitched with a familiar smell. Pizza. Gibbs. Gibbs was bringing him pizza. Things must be  _ really _ bad. Tony put on a bright smile for Gibbs.

“Smelled you coming, boss,” Tony was rewarded with a small exasperated smile. “Pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese, right?” Gibbs nodded with a less exasperated smile, “my favorite. Thanks.” He tossed the pizza on the bed as his thoughts from earlier crept in again. “I’ll, uh, save that for later.” Tony scratched at the back of his head, it had been excessively itchy lately. 

“You know, I’ve been thinking. I’m a federal prosecutor’s dream.”  _ If this thing were to ever get to court, that is _ . “You do tend to date a lot, don’t you, Mr. DiNozzo.” 

“Yeah,” Tony laughed as he sat on the back of the toilet as if he were at court. “I do tend to date a lot, but where does it say that dating, you know, a new girl every week is a crime?”  _ Even if I don’t actually date like that. At least, not since I met you, Gibbs _ . 

“No it’s not, but it does speak to your deep-seated psychological problems and commitment issues.” Tony glanced at Gibbs as if her were a prosecutor. Gibbs on the other hand remained stoically silent and let Tony ramble a bit.

“Really? So, you’re saying my intimacy issues stem from my mother, who died before I could remember her?” Tony could feel the familiar sting of tears in his eyes whenever he thought of her. This time Gibbs’ expression changed. Tony sighed and leaned his head back against the wall for a moment before he jumped up and resumed the role of prosecutor.

“Why, I guess it might explain why you objectify women and treat them as sexual objects, not having a mother figure around, while you’re being so forthright and insightful, Mr. DiNozzo. Why did you sink your teeth into the victim’s leg?”

Back on the toilet, “because I’m angry and I’m immature and I like control!” He knew he was yelling, but he didn’t care. 

“You have no alibi.”

“Alibi? How can I have an alibi when the murder doesn’t even have a time or a date?”  _ Sure, I could use Teddy, but like hell I’m gonna drag him anywhere near this mess. I’m just lucky that Teddy left without a hitch this morning, talk about timing.  _

“That’s interesting, what about means? Latex gloves? Scalpel? You could have gotten these things from...work. No?”

“Right, of course. I ripped a glove at the scene. It seems a little sloppy for a federal agent who investigates crime scenes, but you know those are the breaks when you’re a homicidal maniac,”  _ now don’t those words taste bitter. The same words used to describe the man who tried to kill me, I am now using to describe myself, however sarcastically.  _ “dumping butchered women’s remains out in the woods in the middle of the night! Right?” The tears stung again.

“You know, Gibbs, my own godfather was wrongfully imprisoned. He was imprisoned for twelve hears in a foreign prison that made alcatraz seem like the ritz, but hey apparently this is my legacy! Sorry, Teddy, looks like you’ll be wrongfully imprisoned too! Hopefully you’ll see graduation before then, so good luck.” The back of Tony’s head itched something fierce. He looked over and saw Gibbs silently using one finger to motion Tony closer. 

He knew exactly what Gibbs was going to do and leaned his head against the bars in front of Gibbs as he closed his eyes and tried to fight back the tears. The hand came up and connected with his head and the itchiness that had been persisting the last few hours suddenly went away. Tony rubbed at the back of his neck, below where the smack had been, “Thank you, boss.”

Gibbs nodded in silent agreement before tapping the tip of Tony’s chin, a silent _keep your head up, kid._ Tony almost wished it was his imagination that moved Gibbs’ thumb across his chin in a half-second caress. _Damnit!_ _Just when Gibbs is starting to open up or whatever the hell that was, and this whole shit storm happens._ Tony went over and sat on his bed, _better than the cot under the stairs at least_. _Good thing I’m a practiced hand at entertaining myself quietly in a corner. ‘Making no noise and pretending I don’t exist.’ Ah, simple times._

Tony ran a hand across his face for a moment before he flipped open the pizza box and began eating the tousled pieces of pizza.  _ I’m gonna have to break myself out of here, aren’t I? I’m gonna have to dig out that experimental time turner, go back ten years, again, and reinvent myself...again.  _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~   
Abby had been hiding her search into Tony’s past from Chip. Not easy, for the entirety of this case it felt like he was following her around.  _ Like a lost puppy. Only nowhere near as cute. _ However, issues with Chip aside, Abby had found something that was decidedly Hinky in Tony’s past. There were no grade school transcripts, no high school transcripts, she could have written it off as Tony being homeschooled if not for a few important things. 1) Tony was a very social person, no person being homeschooled for both elementary and High school could be  _ that _ socially developed. 2) Tony’s college transcripts. They were way hinky. 

A BS for Phys. Ed and a Masters in Criminology, but there were only classes slotted under Tony DiNozzo for 1993. If anything, there should have been classes dating back to 1988 at least. But there was nothing. Just the transcripts that Ohio had had. Then there was the basketball team stuff, Tony was only on the team for one year, 1993. Then he busted his knee and didn’t go on to play professionally. 

Abby got on the phone and called Gibbs down to her lab. She then locked herself in her office till she saw Gibbs come down, something was telling her not to trust Chip. Gibbs had been working with her to develop that voice for years, this time she listened to that voice. It was the voice that told her she would find a way to save Tony. It was the voice that told her to trust Gibbs would take care of everything. It was the voice that told her not to date certain guys even though she ignored it alot. 

Gibbs finally arrived and she unlocked her door, “Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, I found something about Tony, I don’t know if it’ll lead to clearing him, but it’s really hinky.”

“What do you got, Abs,” he leaned over her shoulder and looked at her computer. She quickly explained what she had found, or rather, what she hadn’t found before 1993. It was just plain hinky. When she finished, she looked over at Gibbs, he looked thoughtful.

“Good work, Abs, for now, keep this between us,” Gibbs ordered, Abby nodded her agreement. She didn’t want to get Tony in any more trouble than he was already in. He kissed her hair and he left, he looked thoughtful and Abby turned to face her art. Maybe there will be inspiration in the patterns. 

After a while Chip came in and tapped her arm, her computer was off and the search was downloaded onto her personal flashdrive she kept in her wrist braces and deleted off her computer. “What?”

“I think I found something that might help out Tony.” 

She rounded on him quicker than lightning, “why didn’t you say so?”

“Maybe not exonerate, but at least place someone else at the crime scene.”

“What is it?” She could barely contain her excitement, forensics was back!

“Well, you know the sticky substance found on the victim’s ankle?”

“Yes.” she bulldozed past Chip and went into her lab.

“Well, I chemically and instrumentally examined it. The material’s an adhesive, same kind found in duct tape or carpet tape.” He showed her the chemical compound components of the adhesive residue. 

“How does this help Tony?” She was getting impatient, she knew, but this was Tony on the line. Her best friend. The guy who had introduced her to his godson just last week. The guy who cared so much for his godson that he was hidden away from any  _ hint _ of danger. The fact that he trusted her enough to introduce her to Teddy was  _ HUGE _ . She couldn’t let him go to prison, she just couldn’t. 

“Well, I discovered an anomaly in the adhesive material, a carpet fiber. I used FTIS and the mass spec to determine its chemical composition. It’s a Dupont fiber from a Mustang.”

“But Tony drives-”

“I know what Tony drives. But when I tested the stain resistance, it showed the fiber had a coating from a 2004 Mustang.”

“Tony’s Mustang is a ‘66. It couldn’t have been his car.” Abby nearly took off running.

“We have to get a fiber from Tony’s car before it gets towed.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_ One Week Earlier _

“What if she doesn’t like me, Uncle Harry,” the rounded face of the eight-year-old at Tony’s side looked up at him worriedly.

“First off, you gotta call me Uncle  _ Tony _ ,” Tony looked seriously at his godson, they had been lucky so far and Teddy hadn’t slipped with his neighbors, it was only when they were alone that Teddy still like calling him ‘Harry.’ “Secondly, Abby will love you, but first what are the rules?”

“No talking about quidditch, if I accidentally talk about quidditch, then I am to say I’m talking about football, or soccer. No changing my hair color in front of other people. No changing my eye color unless I am securely surronded by wizards and witches.”

“Surrounded,” Tony corrected the child that stood before him in his apartment. He had invited Abby over to meet Teddy. Tony had found himself  _ wanting _ to introduce the two, so he took precautions with Teddy. With the kid’s metamorphmagus abilities Tony had had to lay down a few rules. Mundanes like Abby couldn’t know about the kid’s magical abilities, hence the rules. 

“Oh, what hair color should I wear?” Teddy’s look suddenly turned nervous.

“She’ll love whatever color you wear, so long as you remember to keep it that color,” Tony added with a stern look. 

Teddy looked thoughtful for a moment before he ran off for the bedroom Tony had magically expanded out of a broom closet. That door would be locked while Abby was here, if she asked where Teddy slept, then Tony would explain that they had been camping out in the living room pretty much every night since Teddy’s arrival.  _ Not really a lie either _ . Tony and Teddy had been making a blanket fort and watching movies every night that Tony could get away with it. Thankfully with magic the blanket fort was always different and had enough room for Tony in there as well. 

Tony heard Teddy’s door slam shut once more and Tony looked up. He blinked a few times to process what he was seeing.

“What? I couldn’t decide which color, since  _ you _ wouldn’t tell me what her favorite color is,” Teddy’s round face looked up at Tony as if it were  _ his _ fault that Teddy’s hair was now a kaleidoscope of color. Apparently the kid had decided on wearing  _ all _ the colors on his head. Yep, there was a puke green clump near the back of Teddy’s head. 

“You know what, Kiddo?”

“What, Uncle Tony?” Ton grinned at Teddy, kid caught on pretty quick.

“Abby’s gonna love it,” Tony could no longer hold back his laughter, which resulted in Teddy tackling him to the couch. They landed in a bundle of laughter and tangled limbs before there was a loud knock at Tony’s door. 

Tony quickly disentangled himself from the child and answered the door looking slightly flushed. He was greeted by an armful of Abby, “Hey Tony, ready to hang out?” Abby smiled brightly as she let him go and twirled her umbrella. 

“Yeah, sorry to kind of spring this on you, but you mind a little tag-along,” Tony’s eyes indicated for her to look behind him. 

Behind Tony stood his godson, his chin jutted out defiantly, as if daring Abby not to like him. Tony turned and smiled at his godson’s stance. “Teddy, this is one of my very best friends. Abby, this is Teddy, my godson.”

Abby’s eyes bugged out for a moment as she stared at the adorable child that Tony had hidden away. She wanted to laugh at the kid’s hair, but for the kid to convince Tony to dye it like that was impressive. Abby quickly smiled brightly and squat down to Teddy’s level, “hi, Teddy.”

Teddy took a deep breath and rubbed at a pin he had pinned to his jacket, it was of a lion on a red background. It looked to be some kind of crest, but the kid seemed to gain bravery from it. Abby was so focused on Teddy that she didn’t notice Tony’s eyes on the pin. Tony smiled approvingly at his godson and nodded his encouragement for Teddy to greet Abby. 

“Hello, Abby, I’m Teddy. Uncle Tony said you really like animals. I like animals too.” He looked at her like he was daring her to disagree with him.

Tony could tell that Abby was holding back a squeal of delight, “oh, your accent is just too precious.” She turned to face Tony and mouthed, ‘you have some ‘splainin to do.’

“Yeah, I was thinking we could go to the zoo or something,” Tony rubbed at the back of his neck in slight nervousness. 

“That sounds awesome,” Abby smiled at Teddy, “what’s your favorite animal?”

“I like the wolves. Everyone says my daddy was like the wolves, so I like watching them,” Tony swallowed in equal parts nervousness and grief at the mention of Remus.

Abby’s look turned curious, “where are your parents Teddy?”

Tony cleared his throat, “we should get heading if we want to see the zoo.”

Teddy looked up at him brightly, “Okay, I’ll go get my coat!”

Teddy ran off into Tony’s bedroom where they had stored the coats. Tony turned to Abby, “Teddy lives with his grandmother, his parents were killed in a massive terrorist attack shortly after Teddy was born.” 

“Oh,” Abby’s voice sounded small. “I see.” Suddenly, she punched his arm, right as Teddy came out of the bedroom.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be Uncle Tony’s friend! Friends don’t beat each other up!” Teddy yelled at Abby.

Tony grinned, “it’s okay, pup, she was just upset that I didn’t tell her about you sooner.”

Teddy turned his glare from Tony to Abby, “that’s no excuse, apopogize, now” 

Tony had to hide his face behind his hand to hide his laughter as Abby said seriously, “I’m sorry for hitting you, Tony.”

Teddy nodded his approval, “okay, now we’re off to the zoo.” Teddy excitedly ran for the door and was already halfway down the hall before Abby and Tony left the apartment. Teddy had pressed the button for the elevator.

“You do not get on that elevator without us,” Tony called sternly to the child. 

“Yes, Uncle Tony,” Teddy sounded impatiently annoyed, the way kids do. 

They walked down the hallway and Abby hissed to him quietly, “what the hell, Tony? You have a godson?”

“I don’t talk about him much. I don’t talk about him at work because what if someone says the wrong thing to the wrong person and because Teddy is the most defenseless way to get to me, my only way of protecting him his to not tell people about him? Don’t want Mossad or some terrorist to think they have a way to control an NCIS Agent so close to Gibbs, who in turn is close to the Director,” Tony said equally as quietly. 

The tension dissipated from her form and she nodded thoughtfully, “then I’m glad you trust me with Teddy now.” 

Abby smiled brightly and linked her arm with Tony’s and they went to the zoo, all three of them. There had been a few comments from some elderly couples about what a cute family they made and Teddy would ‘ruin’ the illusion by shouting for his Uncle Tony to come look at some animal or another. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was official, they were booking him. Tony figured he had about 48 hours before AMLE got wind of his impending trial.  _ And what a joke that would have been, thank Merlin for Veritaserum. _ Tony went through the mundane booking process.  _ Not near as much fun on this side of the glass, let me tell you.  _ Apparently not only was his finger print found inside a glove at the scene, his bite mark indented on one of the legs, but the blood on the leg came back as a match for him.  _ Yeah, Alex, I’ll take totally screwed for 1000 please. _

Tony heard the approach of someone playing a harmonica once he was back in his cell. Only one person he knows would come here with a fucking harmonica. Tony blinked his eyes in annoyance. Finally Tim stopped, “very funny, Probie.” 

“Come on, Tony, it’s a gift,” Tim spoke jovially, as if attempting to lift Tony’s spirits. 

“Thanks, probie, but I figure Gibbs has about 24 hours.” Tony didn’t move, he just lay on his bed.

“24 hours for what?”

“Clearing me.”

“Why only 24 hours?”  _ Cause by then AMLE will come take me away, reveal me to be Harry Potter and I’ll have to go back to England. Or I disappear again, use the experimental time turner I stole, again. Either way you guys never see me again.  _

“Cause otherwise you won’t see me again, Probie, and I actually really like it here. I like working at NCIS, with Abby, with Gibbs, Ducky, you, Ziva. Everyone.”

“We’re not gonna let you get convicted, Tony,” Tim tried to look fierce. It made Tony’s lip curl into a smirk. 

“Never gonna make it to the trial, probie,” Tony spoke softly before he got up and walked over to the bars that separated him from the outside world. “Who’s the gift from?”

“Chip, actually,” Tim said with a smile.

Tony’s eyes narrowed at the harmonica before he threw it at the wall. He saw Tim’s shocked face, “now I’m getting crap from the lab monkey.”  _ How dare he? The audacity? As if I wouldn’t know, the smug little bastard. He’s probably going to get away with it too.  _

“Not for much longer,” Tim taunted.

Tony sighed with relief and sat down on his cot with his head between his legs. “I knew boss’d get me out of here; what did he find?”   
  


“Well, hopefully, the body that goes with those legs.”  _ ‘Hopefully’? _

“What do you mean ‘hopefully’, Probie?”

“Abby matched the legs that you severed-”

“I didn’t sever any legs,” Tony shouted and he knew his power was crackling at the edges of his vision, but at the moment he was too stressed to care. 

Tim swallowed, wide eyed, “sorry, slip of the tongue. Uh, the disembodied legs, DNA matched to a Carla Johnson, who, you are not going to believe this-”

“Probie, now really isn’t the time for guessing games,”  _ please tell me it led you to fucking Chip. Then again, maybe not if you’re giving me ‘gifts’ from him.  _

“Right, well, she’s alive.”

“With no legs,” Tony started to feel himself relax.

“No, no, she’s got legs.” 

Tony looked down and smiled to himself for a second before he moved closer to the bars. He suddenly reached through said bars and grabbed McGee by his oversized coat and pinned him to the bars before Tony. 

“Okay, Tony.”

“Prison changes a man, Probie.”

“Tony, come on, man,” McGee sounded strangled, Tony let him go after a minute or two. McGee told him all about George Stewart. Tony nearly groaned aloud that they weren’t looking at Chip. Till Fornell came at least. 

“Never thought I’d say this: But I’m so happy to see you, Fornell.”

“That makes one of us, DiNutzo,” Fornell quipped as he picked up the harmonica from the ground.

“Ha! Never got to do my  _ Cool Hand Luke  _ impersonation, either.” Tony took a breath and began it anyway, “What we got here is a failure to communicate.”  

“Never saw it,”  _ you know, if I couldn’t feel the magic in people around me, I would have pegged you for a wizard with how little you know about movies, Probie _ . Instead of saying any of that, Tony just gave Tim this odd look. 

“Are you kidding me? Only the greatest chain-gang movie of all time,” as they walked away he heard Fornell playing the damn harmonica. 

McGee brought him back to NCIS and before Tony decided to go down to confront Chip, Gibbs had surprised him with a little impromptu ‘welcome back’ party. His favorite pizza was there, no beer, cause ‘on duty’ but it was nice. Tony let himself revel in it a moment. Chip could wait a second. 

“Didn’t doubt you for a second, boss.” Tony grinned over at Gibbs.

“What was all that talk about Gibbs only having 24 hours to clear your name?” Tim asked, Tony grimaced, and Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, you see, the thing there was-” Tony’s eyes widened and he suddenly took off for the stairs. 

“What’s his deal?” Jenny asked as she walked up with a pile of papers.

Tony stood in the doorway of Abby’s lab, Chip was standing there. He was holding a knife and it was pointed at Abby. Tony walked silently into Abby’s lab and as the mundanes were frozen by Tony’s power rolling off of him in waves. He knew both Abby and Chip were frozen by his magic, but Abby was safe so long as she didn’t try to move. Tony quickly took the knife from Chip’s hands and pinned him against the nearby wall.

“Give me a reason,” the knife pressed to Chip’s throat, not hard enough to break skin, yet. “Give me a fucking reason.”

His anger burned white-hot and he knew he wouldn’t be able to come down from this without help, unfortunately Abby was frozen. It sounded like footsteps racing down the hallway towards Abby’s lab were farther away than they were. Suddenly lips ghosted over his ear, he didn’t know what the lips said, only that they brought with them the scent of  _ safety, security, Gibbs _ . First his shoulders relaxed. Then a hand wrapped around his own and the knife fell to the ground and he was pulled away from Chip. He was then forcibly turned from Chip, but his eyes stayed on Chip till Ziva had the bastard on the ground.

“It’s over, Tony,” Gibbs’ voice finally reached him. “Chip is the one behind all of it. We know everything.”  _ No you don’t, but I want you to. So badly it almost hurts.  _ All at once, all the fight left Tony’s body and he would have crumpled to the floor had Gibbs not caught him. Tears streamed unbidden down Tony’s face. 

“Damnit,” Tony angrily wiped at his face. If he had had any strength left in his limbs, he would have run from the room at that moment. Instead he sat there, held in Gibbs’ arms as he was lowered to a chair. 

Abby suddenly asked the director, “Now can I work alone?”


	6. Boxed-In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ziva is observant, Tony walks down memory lane.

The day had started out with such promise. In all honesty the day really hadn’t gone to shit just yet. They had just experienced a mild set back. Tony and Ziva were investigating intel referencing a Senegalese ship coming in with a shipment of firearms. They were caught in a crossfire and the only sensible thing to do was to take cover inside the shipping container. What he didn’t expect, though in hindsight he really should have, was the bad guys locking him and Ziva inside the container.

 

“I think we’ve just been screwed in here, Tony,” Ziva walked angrily away from the door.

 

Tony felt a sort of calm settle around him as he let himself be acquainted with his new smaller surroundings. “The term is, ‘bolted’.”

 

“Same difference,” Ziva narrowed her eyes at him. She quickly came back over to the door and began kicking at the door in an attempt to open it. Tony leaned against the wall casually and flipped open his phone. “I knew your idea was stupid.”

 

“My idea?”

 

“Yes, taking up a defensive position inside a metal box, yes.” her voice sounded as if it were just shy of full on panic.

 

“You’re not panicking on me, are you?”

 

“I don’t panic,” she said a little too quickly. “This is me *kick to the door* mad.” 

 

Tony smiled as she stalked to the back of the container and for a moment her tantrum reminded him of his cousin. He blinked the memory away quickly and turned his attention back to his phone.  _ Hmm, no service, must be the container.  _ “I’m not getting any reception. How about you?”

 

He waited for her to pull her phone out of her pocket, “I’m braless.”

 

“Yeah, noticed that earlier,” Tony said almost on reflex. “But on your phone they’re  _ bars _ .” 

 

“Don’t you have anything better to do than correct my english,” she snapped at him.

 

“Like what,” he looked curious to see if she had thought of anything.  _ Sure I could get out of here with magic, but then I’d have to wipe her memory. Any option ends with me having to wipe her memory and I don’t want to do that. _

 

“Like getting us out of this box you trapped us in.” Ziva turned and began climbing the boxes. 

 

“Okay, first of all, this is not my fault.” Tony paced the length of the container, “second of all, I like dark, tight spaces.”  _ Otherwise my childhood would have been even more miserable than it was. _

 

Ziva began laughing, “unless, of course, they insist on some form of commitment. Huh?”

 

“I was referring to my childhood bedroom.” That cupboard under the stairs had been his first bedroom. His first memories were of that dusty cobweb covered cupboard. It had been comforting. “It looks like our smugglers have removed most of the cargo so they’re probably not coming back.”

 

“We’re still locked in a box and freezing to death.”  _ Gibbs will find us before that happens. I’m pretty sure. I have a theory.  _ An image of Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer flashed through his mind and his mind began singing that song. 

 

“Somebody might’ve heard the gunfire,” Tony turned and began lining his stuff in a row, a habit from living in that childhood bedroom. He had had to learn quick which bottles leaked dangerous chemicals and which ones didn’t. So he lined up everything from his pockets in a row on one of the crates. 

 

“Yeah, well, if they did, they’d be here by now.” 

 

“Hmm, well we’ll just have to sit and wait then,” Tony shrugged as he continued his obsessive compulsive behavior. It gave him a greater sense of calm. “We need to relax, and remain calm.”

 

“For what,” Ziva snapped at him. “For them to come in with reinforcements?”

 

“For Gibbs. Trust me, he’ll find us.”  _ especially if my theory is correct. I think he’s a squib whose magic manifested as his infamous gut. The man was just too lucky and right too many time not to have some kind of boost. _

 

“I believe you,” Ziva sighed as she sat down, “The question is, will it be before we freeze to death?” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Our intel was wrong, Gibbs. The container isn’t filled with small arms. It’s a shipment of explosives.” Gibbs felt dread fill his gut at the man’s words.  _ Tony. _

 

“C-4?” Hopeful, they could deal with that. Tony and Ziva, why could deal with C-4.

 

“Worse,”  _ Shit _ . “Unexploded KMG-U cluster bomblets.” 

 

“From where?” Gibbs’ investigator side immediately took over.  _ No time to think about DiNozzo. Focus on the case and it will lead to him coming home safely, that means getting intel.  _

 

“Iraq. Al Qaeda pays kids 50 cents a day to collect the bomblets. Most of them end up dead. The lucky ones, crippled. These bomblets are-”

 

“Highly Unstable,”  _ Because of fucking course they’re fucking unstable. It’s my team and between mine and DiNozzo’s luck it’s a wonder we aren’t both dead. So was it good luck or bad luck that they kept getting into these situations and ended up leaving them mostly unscathed.  _ “Yeah, I’d say that’s worse.”

 

“French intelligence out of Dakar believes they may have been loaded onto a Senegalese ship last week.”

 

“Last week? Why are we just hearing about this today?”

 

“You ever work with the french, Gibbs?” Gibbs sighed as the obligatory memory of his time in Paris with Jenny flashed through his mind. 

 

“Yeah, a few times.” Gibbs felt McGee approach. He didn’t know what it was, but he always knew when a member of his team was near. Sometimes even when they were in danger his gut went haywire. Kind of like it was doing now. 

 

“Then you know what I’m up against.”

 

He held up a finger for McGee to hold on a second, “I’ve got two agents down at the docks. I need more than, ‘they may have been loaded on a Senegalese ship,’ Tom.”

 

“We’re working on it, Jethro. Just tell your people to be careful.”

 

“Where are they, McGee?” Gibbs tried to keep his voice gentle around the probie, he knew Tim couldn’t handle him when he was in a mood. Only Tony was able to fully do that. 

 

“Tony said that they were relocating.”

 

“Why?”   
  
“Said that they had new intel,” Tim shook his head unknowingly.

 

“You waiting for me to say please?”

 

It took a McGee a minute to realize that Gibbs wanted to know what the intel was. “Well, actually. I couldn’t really make it out. The phone reception was already hinky before I lost them.”

 

“Well, unlose them. I don’t want them touching anything without a bomb squad present.” He knew his growl had entered his voice, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret it as he watched McGee scurry back to his desk.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony’s curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had begun to open the boxes. He had already found one crate full of copies of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. “Look at them all,” he sounded like a kid in a candy store. “Maybe there’s a crate full of DVD players in here.”

 

“Ooh, let’s not forget the battery-operated generators and the popcorn machines.” He could hear the relief in her voice for an outlet for her frustration. 

 

“I’m open to all things cinema.” Ziva came over and saw the movies he was looking at.

 

“Huh. They’re East Indian. Bollywood. No subtitles.”

 

“It's low on the list of genres, I know, but extremely babe-heavy.” He just remembers seeing his aunt sprawled all over the couch some nights with something vaguely Bollywood style. After everyone had gone to bed. “Where are the small arms?”  _ Case. Think about the case. _ “I mean, why would they shoot at us over copies of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?”

 

“Does it matter? We need to get out of here, Tony.”

 

“Yeah, I heard that the first fifty times you said it. Hey, you’re not claustrophobic, are you?” He flashed the flashlight in her face a moment. 

 

“No.” 

 

“Because I’m telling you that would be another nail in the shoe of my day.”

 

“What if we blow a hole at the bottom of this door near where the bolt is?” Ziva examined the door again. 

 

“Porquoi?” Tony distracted himself with the DVDs before him. 

 

“It might enable us to jam something under it and force it open.”

 

“Not liking it. Firing a bullet in here, I mean, it’s bound to ricochet-” Next thing he knows is that Ziva’s fired a shot and she has thrown herself on top of him. “As I was saying, there’s a good chance the bullet might ricochet and kill one of us,” he spoke pointedly into her ear.

 

“Sorry,” he could tell she was having a hard time calming herself down from the bullet so Tony remained silent for a moment. 

 

“Okay, Ziva everything’s fine you can get off of me now.” 

 

Ziva smiled, “you didn’t seem to mind me on top of you when we were undercover.”

 

“That might have something to do with the fact that you were naked.”  _ and I was picturing Gibbs. _

 

“Perhaps if it were warmer in here, hmm?”

 

“Let me rephrase my question, Ziva, get off of me.” Tony lifted her off of him and rolled himself out from under her in the cramped space between the boxes on the floor. He was used to getting out of tight spaces. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs came out of the head and grabbed his usual coffee before he headed to McGee for an update. The feeling in his gut hadn’t gotten any better. McGee immediately pulled up a map of the port on the screen. “My last contact with them was here, The North Expansion. They were checking out a West African cargo ship that pulled in two days ago.”

 

“What about the GPS stuff in their cell phones?” _ I need to find Tony _ . The thought had become a sort of mantra in his head. 

 

“Well, see, that’s the strange thing. Um, cell phone reception is bad around the docks, but their GPS chip should not be affected. They run on separate satellite networks, and we should be able to pick them up anyway.”

 

“‘Should’, McGee?” Gibbs was losing his patience, he needed to find Tony. 

 

“For some reason, we can’t.” Gibbs rounded at those words. “Phones… Phones could be turned off.”  _ Tony wouldn’t do that in the middle of a case. Next.  _ “Chips could be disabled.”  _ Warmer. _ “They could be in a structure that is blocking the GPS signal.”

 

“Like the hold of a ship?” Gibbs went and stood by the window that overlooked the Navy Yard.

 

“Possibly...You know, I’m thinking that they might be waiting to get into a better cell reception area before calling in.”  _ No, that’s not it.  _ Gibbs gut churned with negativity, he needed to find Tony. Now.

 

“‘Maybe’ doesn’t cut it, McGee. You should have let me know.”

 

“I know, uh, see- the thing is you were busy, boss. You were in the restroom.”  _ Are you fucking kidding me, DiNozzo has waltz into the mens room countless times to give me an important update on a case. Then again McGee isn’t DiNozzo. God, I need to find Tony. _

 

“You ever had a conversation in the head, McGee?”

 

Nervously, McGee nodded, “One time I did. The person that I was talking to, they were so distracted with my shoes, they kind of-” Suddenly a quick burst of pain exploded across the back of his head, “Sorry, I should have- I should have let you know.”

 

“Don’t apologize. It’s a sign of weakness. Let’s find them. Before DiNozzo blows both his arms off.” Giving voice to only part of his worry. His worry that he would lose Tony. His Tony. Without ever even having experienced his Tony. Plus, smacking around Tim wasn’t as much fun as smacking around DiNozzo. He had noticed how the man relaxed under the attention. The reminders that he was seen. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony pushed one of the crates off the top of the other to get a deeper look into the crates. “This doesn’t make any sense.” 

 

“Maybe this isn’t the container they used to smuggle their weapons.”

 

“This is the only container that wasn’t sealed. The rest of them are closed.” Tony took a closer look at the walls of the container. Something wasn’t right. 

 

“They off-loaded them already?” 

 

“Might explain how they got automatic weapons. We’re missing something.” Tony started mentally counting the feet of the container.

 

“Besides warmth?”

 

An idea occurred to him. An idea he hadn’t thought about since his cousin had watched those shows on Saturday mornings. “Ziva David, does this space seem different to you?”

 

“Define different.”

 

“Does it seem smaller than the outside dimension? Usually containers are 40 feet long. This one’s only 34 on the inside.” Tony lifted his hand to knock at the side wall of the container, then he knocked on the “back” of the container. It sounded different than it should. “Somebody’s been doing renovations.”

 

“Plywood.” Ziva stepped back and Tony quickly kicked in the lower portion of the plywood wall. Tony leaned in and immediately saw the arabic script. He knew Ziva would be better suited to enter this area first, he stepped back. “Hmm, not bad. I can almost forgive you know.”

 

“For what?”

 

“For locking us in this box.” 

 

“We were in a crossfire we didn’t have a lot of options. Now, ladies first.” Ziva quickly crawled her way inside and he waited for her to get a good look at the boxes that surrounded her. “What do you see?”

 

“Trouble.”  _ Yeah? Go figure, tell me something I couldn’t have guessed on my own _ . “Arabic script.”

 

“What does it say?” She told him and he watched as she pointedly avoided one stamp in particular, so he asked about it, “and that one?”

 

“Death to America,” she read solemnly.

 

“Ah, great. You thinking what I’m thinking?”  _ We need to get into these boxes _ .

 

“Perhaps. If it involves a violent and painful death.” _ Actually in explosions you’re caught too much by surprise and you don’t get the chance to feel much pain in most explosions.  _ They quickly crawled up and Tony used his knife to carefully remove the nails that held the crate closed, as he had done with the ones filled with DVDs. Ziva was crawled up there with him and was handling the nails he handed her with care. 

 

“Careful, this may be booby trapped a dozen different ways.”  _ Well aren’t you a ray of fucking sunshine. _

 

“So why are we opening it, again?”

 

“Because if it is a bomb, it may be armed.” Tony carefully pulled the last nail out of the crate. 

 

“Hey listen, if this thing goes off, I just want you to know-”

 

“This is not your fault, I know,” Ziva interrupted.

 

“Uh, no, I was going to say- Your little dinner party with Palmer and McGee would’ve been better if I could have brought my Stuffed Mushrooms for an Appetizer. Just ask Gibbs.” After his bout with the plague, Gibbs had insisted Tony stay with him. So, as a thank you Tony cooked for the man. They found they both enjoyed Tony’s cooking and had made plans for Tony to cook again the next weekend they were not on call. A part of Tony felt soothed at the appreciation for his cooking. He had found he had wanted to do it again, but found he couldn’t bring himself to invite McGee, Palmer, or even Ducky over to cook for. He had cooked for Abby and Teddy when Teddy had visited, but he hadn’t really cooked for Abby since then. Tony put his knife away,  _ right, back to the matter at hand. Explosives, remember, DiNozzo.  _ “Alright.” 

 

Tony carefully placed his hands on either side of the lid to the crate. “Up an- up an inch. Ugh.”

 

“No visible wires. Proceed.” He lifted the lid the rest of the way off. “Oh my God.”

 

“Well, didn’t expect to see that.” Millions. Millions and millions. Tony took a few bundles to check. He could practically hear Kate screaming in his head that they were fakes. “There’s gotta be millions in here. More than enough to bankroll one hell of a terrorist op. These DVDs were just decoys to get through Customs. I tell you what. When we get out of here, I’m going to buy you a house. But it’s gonna have to be a fake house, because these are counterfeit.”

 

“How can you tell?”

 

“Kate.” Ziva’s face softened. “She would go on and on about how to spot counterfeit money. Her being secret service and all before coming to NCIS. Firstly, they’re freshly printed.”

 

“Your treasury prints millions every day.” 

 

“So do countries like Syria and North Korea. Hundred-dollar bill hasn’t been redesigned since ‘96, which makes it very vulnerable to this kind of counterfeit.” He played with the money in his hand. 

 

“Still doesn’t explain how you know they’re fake.”

 

“The ink. It smells.” Ziva took the bundle from him and sniffed at it.

 

“Yes. Like ink,” as if he were an idiot. 

 

“Well, our money doesn’t smell. Here. Try it,” he pulled a dollar out of his pocket. “Give her a little sniff.”

 

Ziva sniffed at it and immediately scrunched up her face in displeasure. “Ugh, God! That smells like stale alcohol and…” she took another sniff, “your armpit.”

 

He took his money back from her and tentatively sniffed at it,  _ ugh it does smell like my armpit. _ “Well, the point is, it doesn’t smell like ink. Now, there’s only one way to know for sure.” He slides one of the bills out of the bundle and hands her the rest of the bundles. “If it burns orange, it’s real.” 

 

“Impressive,” she actually sounded it too. “But irrelevant. Real or not, our friends are coming back for it.”

 

“They may already be here.” Tony expresses out loud. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Your people checked in with me at 0706. DiNozzo and David, right? They’re surveilling containers for illegal contraband from West Africa?” Something about this guy didn’t sit right with McGee. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but there was something bugging him about this guy. 

 

“That’s them,” Gibbs barked out. Without Tony around to take the brunt of it, McGee had noticed that Gibbs was a lot meaner and a lot more surly. 

 

“They were staked out by the dock on the North Expansion.”

 

“Not anymore.” McGee could hear the impatience in his boss’ voice. 

 

“They changed their post.” McGee tried to intervene, he really did.

 

“See, this is-” the guy began complaining, to Gibbs, McGee really could only sit back and watch, “I got to tell you something. I made it very clear to them that any change of plans goes through this office. Where are they now?”

 

“Well, that would be the purpose of this visit, Mr. Lake. We lost contact.” Gibbs stood and pinned the man with a stare. 

 

“So, for all we know, they’re out there wandering around somewhere lost.” McGee almost couldn’t hold back his wince at the man’s words.

 

“My people don’t get lost.”

 

“Agent Gibbs, this is one of the largest ports on the East Coast. Believe me, it happens all the time. Matthew-”

 

“Sir?”

 

“Do me a favor. We got two missing feds. Take a team and sweep the sectors by the North Expansion. Call me when you find them.” Gibbs and McGee followed Mr. Lake across the room.

 

“You got it,” the security guard responded to the order swiftly.

 

“You’re welcome to wait here while we locate them. “

 

“Mr. Lake, it would be helpful if we could review the security camera footage.” McGee tried to keep Mr. Lake focused on him, like Tony would to in order to keep the man away from Gibbs and willingly working with them. There may be something off about the guy, but that didn’t mean he deserved Gibbs’ wrath.

 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll have one of my techs work on it. Hey, what kind of contraband were they looking for?”

 

“Arms shipment. Explosives.” Gibbs barked out, impatient.

 

“What ship? We’re going to have to lock it down and search it container by container.”

 

“Our intel indicates that it might be Senegalese.” Tim again tried to intercept, keep Mr. Lake focused on Tim instead of Gibbs. It was proving harder than he expected and gained a new appreciation for Tony and his antics. Whatever masks the man hid behind, he was a master manipulator and Tim for one was glad to have Tony on his side. Pranks and all. 

 

“Might be? You mean, you don’t have any idea?”

 

“No, not yet.” Gibbs barked out. Tim heard the anger that was beginning to rise. 

 

The man continued to bitch, unaware of the danger Gibbs represented. “Any idea how busy we are here? Right now I’ve got three ships sailing under the Senegalese flag. Two more coming in on Thursday.”  _ Gibbs doesn’t care about the ones that aren’t here yet, he just cares about the ones that are. _ “Well, how accurate is your intelligence?”

 

Gibbs sent the man an annoyed stare. Mr. Lake started chuckling, “Do you guys know how many intel BOLOs I get in a week? And how many of them turn out to be false alarms? I’m going to need more than chatter before we disrupt the port.”  _ Uh, oh, I know that look on Gibbs face. Sorry dude, I tried. _

 

“Yeah? Well, I need to find my people.” Gibbs snapped into action as Mr. Lake turned to McGee.

 

“He always like that?”

 

“Yeah, pretty much,” McGee responded automatically.  _ Although when Tony is here he’s usually a lot better. _

 

McGee heard Gibbs arguing with the phone reception as the man tried to talk to Abby. “Norfolk Port Authority. They’re sending over surveillance videos. Videos. I want you to look at this morning’s recordings of the North Expansion. Anything of Tony and Ziva. I know that, Abby. We’re looking for them.” Finally he hung up and started dialing Abby’s lab on the main line. “Find Tony and Ziva, Abs. The videos are on their way to you right now. Why?” Gibbs banged the phone on the desk and McGee scurried over to the desk. Gibbs was telling him a few things there, first was that Abby wanted to talk with him. Next was that he knew Abby didn’t want to talk about anything that would specifically help them find Tony and Ziva. Finally, Gibbs was calling them both out on it and ensuring that McGee would make the conversation quick.

 

“Yeah, Abs?”

 

“What happened to Tony and Ziva?”

 

“Uh, Abby, it’s not a really good time right now,” McGee looked away from Gibbs’ stare.

 

“You better call me as soon as you’re Gibbs-free, McGee.”

 

“I will, I will.” He comforted her as Gibbs began to circle him.

 

“Promise me.”

 

“Abby, I promise, okay?” McGee quickly hung up, not wanting the conversation to go on any longer out of fear of Gibbs. 

 

“Okay, transfer’s complete. Copy of all of our security footage since the time that your agents arrived.” Mr. Lake sat down at his seat at the control station again.

 

“Where are the Senegalese ships docked?” Gibbs came swooping in out of seemingly nowhere.

 

“Piers Five-Alpha, Three-Tango, and Six-Delta.”

 

“I want to see them.” Gibbs started stalking off. 

 

McGee nodded, “think that means we go with him.” Mr. Lake sighed before locking his computer and following after the two NCIS agents. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony was trying to count out the money, he was bored and curious. However, Ziva had other plans. “Counting your riches, King Cole?”

 

“Midas. King Cole had a merry old soul. One hundred-” wood clattered “twenty million- Thanks. You made me lose count, again.” Tony’s mind had wandered back to his time in his cupboard. He had had a hard enough time trying to count with his own brain working against him, but then to have Ziva moving things around and making a lot of noise. His concentration hadn’t been the best, so he had lost count. Again. 

 

“Good, now you can put yourself to good use.”

 

“Doing what?”

 

“Helping me set up this defensive perimeter.”

 

Tony gathered some of the bundles into his arms, “Ah, actually I was warming to your earlier idea of getting us out of here. If we burn these bills-”

 

“We’ll die of smoke inhalation, Tony,” Ziva’s voice interrupted his.

 

“Oh no, no, no, look up. Heat rises, right? So the smoke is going to go out through these ventilation slots and draw attention to our position. Not to mention the added benefit of head production.”

 

“Are you serious?”  _ No, but I am his godson. _ Tony couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the reminder of the bad joke.

 

“Well, it makes more sense than firing a gun inside a metal box, now, doesn’t it?” Tony thought back to the candle he had had in his cupboard. The main floor of the house had gotten surprisingly cold during the winter and that candle had provided him some much welcomed warmth. Granted it was a significantly smaller space, but it was the same concept, so long as he kept the fire under control. “Don’t worry about a thing. The worst thing that can happen is it gets a little smokey in here. It’s kind of fun.”

 

Ziva looked at him like he was crazy for a moment, “um, it’s a little crazy, actually. Okay, fine it’s a little warmer.”

 

Tony’s eyes widened as he saw some flaws in his plans and immediately began trying to put out the fire, “shit. I forgot, counterfeit money tends to burn super easy.” Tony worked to quickly put out the fire and after he scraped up the ashes and put them in one of the boxes, Ziva was on the other side of the container, coughing. 

 

“Definitely your worst idea yet.”

 

“No, my worst idea was challenging a date to an oyster-eating contest.” _ He had then been reminded of his recently ex-girlfriend and proceeded to whine about her all night. Kind of a sucky date, really.  _

 

“The air in here is like soup.” He heard her grunting for a moment before she called him over, finally, “Hey, do you want to give me a hand with this, please?”

 

“Sure. So riddle me this, Batgirl. How does one wrangle an invite to dinner at your place?” Tony grunted as he moved the specified box into position.

 

“Why? You feel a little left out, Tony?”  _ Yes, and I hate it. _

 

Instead of speaking his inner thoughts he laughs, “I mean, McGee I can understand. He’s a good guest. I bet he brought a bottle of wine.”

 

“And dessert.”

 

“Yeah, big surprise there. But Palmer-”  _ Poor kid was so afraid of saying the wrong thing to the Mundanes that he was insecure.  _ “I’ve had more stimulating conversations with cats.”  _ Granted said cat was my Transfiguration teacher.  _

 

“I like him.”  _ Oooh, defensive of the little Autopsy Gremlin _ . “And he was very helpful to me.”

 

“How?”

 

“He tuned my piano.” At her words, memories came to the forefront of his mind. He didn’t want them there, he wanted them to go back into the box they came out of and to stay there. But instead, there they were.

 

“I used to play piano.” 

 

“But not anymore?”

 

_ Well, that truth is already out there, might as well sell it _ . “My mother forced me to take lessons from this woman who used to hit me with a ruler every time I made a mistake.”  _ At least, that sounds like something mothers would do, right? And Mrs. Figg did hit me  every time I made a mistake. I can still feel the sting of her ruler.  _ Tony sat on one of the boxes and laced his fingers together as they hung between his knees. “Haven’t played since.” 

 

Tony began to unconsciously curl in on himself, all these trips down memory lane were really getting to him. Ziva must have seen this because she suddenly reached out to him and he registered the act as a comforting one in his brain, but his body flinched and rolled away from her touch. “Sorry I-”  _ I can’t say I don’t like to be touched. That doesn’t fit with this mask.  _ Ziva must have seen his discomfort because she moved away and asked another question.

 

“Were you any good?” 

 

Personally he didn’t think he was any good, but then again that was in comparison to what he had accidentally heard when he had woken up early from a nap as a child when she watched him. Her playing had been beautiful and he remembered wanting to play like that, but didn’t like the pain that Mrs. Figg had inflicted on him. 

 

“Yeah, she was,” Tony sat and thought about the old woman for a moment. In all honesty she had been his only real ally. She had had to make his visits as unpleasant as possible so that the Dursleys would send him back there. Tony flinched. He had been so careful to not think of  _ their _ names. Surname included.

 

 _We’re getting into dangerous territory here, let’s bring it away from there shall we?_ “Very well done, darling,  but where are are we going to put the divan?” He let a little of his accent, his true accent show through before he viscously buried it again. “Actually, you know it looks pretty good.  I particularly like your firing slots.”

 

“Of course, against automatic weapons, it’ll disintegrate in 30 seconds.”

 

“Yeah. What is it about danger and uncertainty that makes me feel so-”

 

“Horny?”  _ Well now we know where your mind’s at. _

 

“Hungry.”  _ Reminds me of when I was living with my aunt and uncle.  _ “I’d kill for a pizza right now.” Ziva stared back at him as if he were a puzzle for her to decipher. “What?” 

 

“You don’t have to joke about it. It’s all right to admit you’re scared.”  _ Oh, well, in all honesty I’m not really that scared. I know Gibbs will find us and I see that you’ve stopped complaining about the cold, you can thank my skills at subtle wandless magic. You’re Welcome.  _

 

“You’ve obviously never seen a Steve McQueen movie.” _ Yeah those movies could pertain to their situation. Take your pick.  _

 

“Why must you equate everything in life to your stupid movies?” _ Because otherwise I would end up telling everyone the truth, so if I get all my ideas from movies. Then Voila. No one questions the origin of certain ideas because events of my life so closely resemble the fucking movies it isn’t even funny.  _

 

“Now see, that’s your problem.”  _ Doubt you would even believe me if I told you magic was real. _ “You have no fantasy life.” 

 

She started laughing which was to be expected, “Oh, you couldn’t be more wrong.”

 

“Oh really?” He said challengingly, “Okay, well, then throw one out there. Let’s hear a Ziva David fantasy.”

 

“It concerns you.”

 

“Ooh, I’m all ears.” 

 

“And a sumo wrestler,” he knows she’s watching his face, but that one hits a little too close to home. 

 

He flinches, “you can stop there.” 

 

“You see, it’s all about hot women and brave men to you. Anything deeper and you shut it down.” Ziva looks to him, he thinks it looks like genuine concern. Like, maybe she  _ wants _ to be his friend. He lets her see a bit of the pain in his eyes before he very obviously changes the subject.

 

“That’s not true. I like a lot of deep movies. Pick a genre, any genre.” 

 

Thankfully she goes for it, “okay, best eating movie.”

 

“Night of the Living Dead. I’m kidding. Tom Jones. Eating as sex.”

 

“Best Sex movie.”

 

“Body Heat. William Hurt, Kathleen Turner. Smart noir. I like the whole sweaty, chairs-through-glass-doors thing.” He smiled remembering some of the dreams he had with Gibbs.

 

“Yeah, I prefer the air conditioner on. And if anyone threw a chair through my door, I would probably shoot them.” She looked so seriously at him that he leapt onto the opportunity she presented.

 

“Did you just reveal something about your sex life?”

 

“Obliquely.”

 

“I’m stunned, because you never talk about yourself. Why is that?”

 

“Maybe I like a little privacy. I notice you don’t really talk about yourself either.” He opened his mouth to object when she continued talking. “Not when it truly matters. Anything concerning your childhood is skimmed over and there’s hardly anything there. You hide away a godson from everyone at work.” Her eyes flashed angrily as she realized her slip. 

 

He took a deep breath, “that’s why I keep him a secret. Because I know the people I work with are human and the less people who know about him the safer he is. We work with and against some scary people, Ziva. I won’t have my godson anywhere involved in anything remotely relating to anything I do at work. So, while we’re sharing, why don’t you tell me something else about you, it’s only fair since you know about my godson and I know  _ I _ didn’t tell you. So come on, give me something. Happiest moment? Most embarrassing moment?” An idea formed in Tony’s head and he couldn’t help himself as his devious mind took over for a second, “First time you realized daddy wasn’t perfect.” 

 

She froze for a second before she looked up at him, he willed for his glare to say,  _ see I can hurt you too. Don’t push me. _ She broke eye contact first and walked to his other side. 

 

“Okay, I’ll tell you mine.”

 

“We’re not sharing.” There was a loud rumble and Tony and Ziva fell to the floor. “We’re being lifted by a forklift.” Just then he felt Gibbs through his magic in the man’s wallet. He began shouting.

 

“Hey! We’re in here! Hey!-” Ziva’s hand covered his mouth and he glared at her. He knew there was no way he could explain why he had shouted. He couldn’t tell her that Gibbs and McGee were frustratingly close just then, but they were moving away now and there was no point in arguing. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs turned towards the forklift that was carrying a container across the port. Some seagull cawed in the background, he was sure he had heard DiNozzo. The seagulls cawed again and Gibbs shook his head. Gibbs shook his head as the forklift moved out of sight,  _ nothing to do about it now. _ “See if you can find their vehicle, McGee.”

 

“On it,” the affirmation was unnecessary, but nice to hear. Gibbs ducked back into the car and pulled the binoculars from the car.

 

“What time’s that ship scheduled to get underway?” Gibbs again thought of Tony and tried to gentle his bark. 

 

“They’re still offloading, so sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

 

McGee’s voice rang out loud and clear, “Hey boss, I found it!” Gibbs lightly jogged over to where McGee’s voice had come from. “It’s locked.”

 

“Find them, McGee. Spread out.”  _ Find Tony. Find Tony. Find Tony. _ The mantra repeating itself in Gibbs’ head. Mr. Lake walked with Gibbs. “How many times do these containers come and go on a given day?”

 

“On this dock, thousands.” Gibbs’ heart clenched in worry. Till his eyes zeroed in on part of a blood trail.

 

“You know what this is?”

 

“That’s a blood trail.”

 

“You still think this is chatter, Lake?” Gibbs asked sarcastically. They continued walking along the path of the blood trial when they heard McGee call out.

 

“Boss.”

 

“What do you got, McGee?” McGee had found the body for their blood trail. They called for Ducky to come out for the body and for more agents to come secure their crime scene. Gibbs made the calls while McGee investigated what happened. They found the beginning of the blood trail and found all kinds of evidence to tell a story.

 

“And now this is where the blood trail stops, boss.”

 

“You mean, starts.”

 

“Uh, yes, that’s what I mean. Now, I’ve broken the area into four sections: Area One over here is where all the action seems to have been centered. We recovered three different types of brass. Must have been one hell of a gunfight.” 

 

“Yeah, well, I bet Tony and Ziva thought so, McGee. They were right here.” Gibbs looked around, trying to see things from their perspective. 

 

“We recovered the other two types of brass from over there where the blood trail started, back there.” McGee basically pointed out a crossfire.

 

“They were caught in a crossfire,” Gibbs mused aloud. 

 

“Whoa. whoa, Boss, boss. You don’t- you don’t think they’re-? Should we put divers in the water or-?”

 

“They’re not in the water,” conviction steeling across Gibbs’ entire being. “McGee, if they were in the water, they’d be dead. If they were dead, I’d know about it. They’re not dead.” McGee nodded his agreement and Mr. Lake came over. 

 

“Alright, my people have been rounding up dockworkers. So far, no one’s heard any gunfire.”   
  


“I want to find out if there were any other containers here.”

 

“Yeah, well, we’re compiling a manifest of every container offloaded from the ship. If it left the port, we’ll find it.”  _ This guy sounded a bit too keen to be looking outside for a missing container. _

 

“If not?” Gibbs barked out. 

 

“What, are you asking me to search every container still in the port?” the man’s incredulousness made Gibbs want to growl. 

 

“No, I’m ordering you. Make it happen, McGee.” Gibbs called out before he made his way over to Ducky and the body.

 

Gibbs approached and Ducky was already crouched above the body, “They shot him three times.”

 

“Well, at least they got one of them, Duck.” Gibbs squat next to the body as well.

 

“Can I ask where  _ they _ are?”

 

“Not if you’re expecting an answer.”

 

“What does your gut tell you?” Ducky asked him pointedly, giving Gibbs a hard stare. In all his years, Ducky had never before encountered a squib with a magical core as strong as Jethro’s was. It was downright bizarre how accurate the man’s ‘gut’ feeling was. He wouldn’t have been surprise to see Jethro excel in Divination, if the poor boy believed in such things that is. 

 

Instead of answering, Gibbs asked a question of his own. “Tell me about this guy.”

 

“25 to 35 years old, mortally wounded. He was able to run about 50 yards before a massive loss of blood brought him down. Someone dragged him in here. Foreign born.” Ducky looked thoughtfully over the corpse. He thought he detected a bit of Tony’s magic on the bullets inside the young man lying at his feet.

 

“You got his ID?”

 

“No.” Ducky still felt out the magic Tony had left behind. It was meant to help the bullet reach it’s target. Given what he had heard from Timothy they had been in quite the firefight indeed, “Dental work.” But for young Anthony to exhibit such finesse at what he was sure was a complex bit of subtle wandless magic to help him be more efficient. It was impressive. “No caps or crowns. The work is primitive. And I thought England was bad.”

 

“Third world?”

 

“I should say so. Something else you may be interested in. His hands are soft. No discernable calluses.”

 

“He’s not a dockworker.

 

“Well, I’ll- I’ll know more when I get him back. You’ll find them, Jethro,” Ducky called after his friend. 

 

“That a question or a statement, Duck?”

 

“More of a prayer.” Ducky calls after Jethro’s retreating back.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony stood on the floor of the container and held Ziva up on one of the crates so she didn’t fall off. “You know under normal circumstances, this would be considered fun.”

 

“Yeah, well, I can’t tell where we’re going,” Ziva sounded worried as she grunted with each change of direction the forklift took.

 

“Well, there’s only three ways we’re going to get there: train-”

 

“That’s quaint. We could be like the homos in the movies.”  _ Well for that I’d need Gibbs. Stop it. _

 

“Hobos, not homos. That would be my third choice.”

 

“A ship?” Ziva tried bracing her hands on the walls of the container to try and hold herself steady. 

 

“That was my second choice.”

 

“Days without food or water.” They jolted and Tony pulled her to try and land on him. He grunted as her weight settled on top of his. “Sounds like a truck.”

 

“That’s my first choice,” he grunted again as he lifted her off of him and sat up. He started banging on the side of the container, “Hey, let us out of here!”

 

Ziva then covered his mouth and pulled him down to the floor of the container. “Stop it! You’re assuming whoever’s driving doesn’t know we’re here. If they do, they can’t leave the port with us aboard. They’ll take us back inside and they’ll deal with us first.” 

 

He nodded his agreement and she slowly took her fingers from his mouth. “Right, right. Okay, I have a plan. We build a time machine.-”

 

“We could leave a trail.”

 

“Sorry, Gretel, I left all my breadcrumbs back at the office.”

 

“Well, then it’s a good thing we’ve got all this dough,” Ziva looked pointedly at the crates full of money they stood next to. Tony nodded.  _ It’s a good idea, bummed I didn’t think of it, but that doesn’t matter. Hey, now that we’re moving maybe we can get lucky and get a signal. _

 

“Okay, well you stick with that. I’m going to see if the reception’s any better.” He checked through the phone quickly and had another thought, “What we need is a better antenna. Any kind of wire would work. Any kind of conductor, really. Hey, your necklace. We can attach it to the end of the antennae and slip it out of the slot.” 

 

“Cell phone antennas are vertical. The wire can’t dangle.”

 

“Okay, so we’ll need to stiffen it.”  _ Insert obligatory sex joke here.  _

 

“I’ve heard that before,”  _ there we go. _

 

“Work with me, here. We could slice the spines off these DVDs and sandwich it in between.” There was a bump and Ziva went to her side, he saw her hands at her neck and asked if she was okay. 

 

“Yes. I still need something to reflect off.” Tony carefully as he could sliced the spines of the DVDs with his knife.

 

“The side of the container?”

 

“The angle needs to be precise, Tony.”

 

_ Oh quit with your negativity, this is actually a good idea.  _ “The response I’m looking for here is, ‘Cool, Tony!’” 

 

“I’m saying it might work,”  _ Yeah? Well a little praise goes a long ways with me.  _

 

“When this is all over, we’re gonna watch Kuch Kuch Hode Hai.” Tony’s fingers were starting to go numb from his subtle magic to keep them at least a little bit warmer. _Damnit!_ _I’m going to have to stop that at suppress my magic to increase the chances of us getting call out. Great, gonna have to start that now, sorry Ziva._ The numbness in his fingers didn’t go away as the cold replaced the feeling of magic. 

 

“How’s it coming,” Ziva squat down on her crate.

 

“My fingers aren’t working.” he informed her.

 

“You want me to do it?”

 

“I got it, just give me one of your hair-squinchie things.” Tony grunted as he put the lid back on his magic and his fingers spasmed again. After spending so long directing his subtle wandless magic, his fingers hurt. 

 

“The term is ‘scrunchie.’” She took it out and handed it to him, he thanked her and set about sandwichiching her necklace between the spines of the DVDs. 

 

“Now I just got to figure out how to attach this thing to the cell phone.” Ziva started talking about the money being out there, “true, but if we can get a call out for Gibbs to follow the money. Then that will give us a higher chance of him finding us.” They felt the truck backing up and worry started to gnaw at Tony. 

 

“We’re backing up. Almost done?”

 

“Just got to figure out how to attach it.”

 

“I may be able to help you with that,” Ziva sat on the crate and pulled her pant legs up to reveal her knees.

 

Tony got a good look at the friction burns on her knees. Tony’s mind flashed back to his childhood and the friction burns he would get on his legs from his uncle dragging him around the house all over the rugs and carpeting. “Friction burns.” 

 

“What difference does it make?”  _ Well, I doubt you let anyone drag you across the floor, Ziva. Which leaves… _

 

“Uh, it doesn’t. I’m just wondering how you got them.”

 

“Well, if we live long enough, maybe I’ll tell you someday.”

 

“You know, I can only think of two ways: were you and McGee and Palmer playing Twister last night?” 

 

Ziva yanked her pant legs back down her legs. “What’s a twister?”

 

“Exactly. That means you were having-” Suddenly the truck stopped. Good, he honestly didn’t think that Ziva had had a threesome with McGee and Palmer, but he also didn’t want to voice the idea to her just for teasing sake. 

 

“If you’re going to make that phone call, now is the right time to do it.” They listened to the men talking outside and Tony wondered how much Ziva could understand. 

 

“You understand that gibberish?” 

 

“A little,” Ziva said distractedly. Tony sat ready to try calling with the cell phone.

 

“What’s he saying?”

 

“They’re either discussing letting us go or the best way to murder us.” Tony gave her a look.  _ I doubt they’re discussing the first one. _ “It’s a complicated language.”

 

“Well, I’d go with number two,” Tony turned back to the phone and forcibly pushed his magic down so hard it almost hurt. 

 

“Me, too. Get any reception?”

 

“Negative. I’m gonna have to stick this antenna out one of the ventilation slots.” Just then, the door of the container opened and a voice called out.

 

“If you want to live, then come out of the container now.” Ziva darted forward and Tony pulled his weapon out. She held up his hand, she had a plan or an idea. 

 

“What was that? Speak up!” There was a pause and Tony thought he heard the baddies chuckled out there. 

 

“I said, ‘come out now, woman!’ Come out. Now. Or we will come in. What is your answer?” 

 

Tony heard the man approach and he heard Ziva answer, “This.” before she shot the baddie in the foot. Tony nearly started laughing before Ziva turned to him, a serious expression on her face. “Make your call. We only have a couple of minutes now.” 

 

Tony carefully stuck the phone antenna out the ventilation hole and called the one number that he had wanted to call this entire time. “Yeah, Gibbs.” Tony felt a large part of him relax in relief at just hearing his boss’ voice. 

 

“Boss, it’s me.”

 

“Tony!”

 

“Yeah,” he thought he heard the brakes squeal, but it was broken by static and Tony viciously pushed down his magic.  _ Ow _ . “Boss, it’s a long story, but the really short version is that we’re trapped in a container with millions in phony US bills in some port building.”

 

“You’re coming in broken, DiNozzo. Say again.”

 

“If you can hear me, we left a trail of money.”

 

“Money?”

 

“Follow the money.”

 

“You need...phone...Abby…”

 

“Tony get down, they’re coming again.”  _ Shit. _

 

“DiNozzo! Keep the damn phone on. Abby will find you.”

 

“They’re coming for us, boss. We’re running out of time. Hurry.”

 

“Tony,” Ziva shouted. Tony ducked down and the phone fell from his hands. Tony moved to behind the barriers that Ziva had made. He tried to infuse his bullets with his magic like he had that morning during the crossfire incident, but his magic still hurt from him forcing it down so hard and so deep, even for only a moment. 

 

“I’m down to four rounds, you?” Tony knew that none of his bullets had hit their mark, they were getting fired on by both sides. Bright side is he thinks there’s only two shooters right now. 

 

“Six, but it doesn’t matter.”

 

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” They flinched under another burst of enemy gunfire. 

 

“Because a few more bursts like that and we’re dead.”  _ Hmm. _

 

“I got an idea.”

 

“How come that doesn’t comfort me?”

 

“We found your money!” Tony shouted out and pulled a wad from inside his coat that he had placed there to help insulate against the cold. “Cease fire, or we start burning it.”

 

“He’s bluffing,” Tony smiled as he was already lighting the wads of money. He then grinned to Ziva for a second and tossed the money out of the container. “Stop. Stop! What are you proposing?”

 

“Surrender!”

 

“Then throw out your weapons.”

 

“Not us, you idiot.” 

 

“No!” Ziva shouted vehemently.

 

“I think not. There’s $50 million in there. You’ll be dead before you can burn half of it.”

 

Ziva glanced to him, “He’s got a valid point.”

 

“We just have to stall long enough for Gibbs to find us.” He whispered to her, “Ah, I just need to talk to my partner about that for a second.” Tony grunted as he turned back to lean against their barricade. His magic was still strained. 

 

“Let us hope he finds us soon then,” Ziva stated before the baddies opened fire on them again. “I’m empty.” 

 

“This is your last chance! Come out or you die!”

 

“So about those friction burns.” Tony started conversationally.

 

“Only when I’m absolutely positive we’re going to die.”

 

“Okay, I got two minutes,” Tony said jokingly.

 

She smiled at his bad joke, “and Tony. I’m sorry I didn’t invite you to dinner last night.”  _ That’s all I needed to hear.  _

 

“What is your decision?” 

 

“Freeze! Port Security!” Hope flared in Tony’s chest,  _ Gibbs _ , despite it not being Gibbs’ voice. Surelly Gibbs would have led Lake to them. “Get your hands in the air. Get on your knees. Do it! Agent DiNozzo. Agent David.”

 

“Lenny?” Disbelief flooded him, something wasn’t right. But it got them out of the container, if they were lucky maybe he could talk them all into the container and he and Ziva could lock them inside for a change of pace. 

 

“You two had a lot of people worried, let me tell you.” Tony nodded for Ziva to follow him out of the container. 

 

“Where’s Gibbs?”  _ Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Gibbs is in hiding.  _

 

“He’s on his way.”  _ Damn, I was hoping it wasn’t you Lenny.  _ “Hey, do me a favor. Cover them while I radio for some help.”

 

“We are out of ammo.” Ziva helped him limp over to the side. 

 

“Aw, gee. That’s too bad. Come on, Wilson, get up,”  _ Damnit damnit damnit. Where the hell are you Gibbs _ . Tony’s magic was too wore out to extend his senses, so he didn’t feel Gibbs approach. So as Lenny’s gun turned on him and Ziva, Wilson and thug #1 hopped up into the container. “You know you two almost cost me fifty million dollars.”

 

Relief flooded Tony as he caught sight of his boss sneaking up behind Lenny. “Actually, by now, it’s more like 10 or 12.”

 

“We burned some of it,” Ziva smirked at Lenny.

 

Tony broke out in a grin as Lenny shouted at them angrily, “you think this is funny?”

 

“Not me, personally.”

 

Gibbs’ gun cocked against Lenny’s head, “But I do. Drop it.” McGee rushed forward and shut the other two inside the shipping container. “You two okay?”

 

“No,” Ziva stalked over to Lenny and kicked him in the junk. Tony winced in sympathy as the man went down. “Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me-”

 

McGee fumbled to get cuffs on Lenny, “Where are you going?” 

 

“I’ve been locked in a box all day. The ladies room!” Tony winced.  _ Sorry I couldn’t help you with that, but if I banished the contents of your bowels, you would have known something was up. I was honestly prepared for you to go pee on the money at some point, but damn, Ziva.  _

 

Eventually they made their way back to NCIS and all Tony wanted to do was flop into bed and dream of Gibbs, or flop into bed with the real thing, he really didn’t care which. Then again an Abby hug would do wonders, at least it would if she could avoid crushing him. 

 

“Tony!” Her voice called out across the bullpen. “I was just so worried about you. Oh, my God ar you okay?” 

 

Tony winced,  _ no, my magic feels like it wants to explode out of me because of how hard I tried to stuff it down. I got shot at, Gibbs is nowhere to be found, and you know I never feel complete without Gibbs around, Abs. _ “Gunshot.” 

 

Abby gasped, “McGee. Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“It’s barely a scratch.”

 

“Oh, poor baby.” Tony revelled in the concern. He hadn’t really received any concern pertaining to him as a child, so anyone that gave him concern now was a blessing in his book.  “Who’s gonna drive you home?”

 

“I am. I’m making him dinner tonight.” Flashes of Ziva’s driving crossed his mind and Tony felt queasy, even years later, Ziva’s driving reminded him of the Whomping Willow. Oddly enough he had always felt safe when Gibbs drove, even when the man was in a mood. Tony slowly turned and nodded his surprised acceptance. Suddenly Ziva had an armful of Abby.

 

“What was that for,” she sounded genuinely bewildered. 

 

“I’m glad you’re not dead.”

 

“Oh, me, too. So, what are you making him?”

 

“Italian.”

 

“You cook Italian?”  _ When he had chosen Italy as a significant part of his ‘new’ genealogy, a large part of it had been the food. He had always loved Italian food, despite not being able to have it as often as he would have liked growing up.  _

 

“Her cooking rocks, Tony. What was the name of that dish you made at your party last night?” 

 

“Cholent. Slow-cooked beef with potatoes and beans. Wasn’t bad.” Tony felt the cold mantle of abandonment settle across his shoulders at Gibbs’ words.  _ Ziva had invited the entire team  _ except _ me? _ He got quiet and Ziva shortly led him out of the building and down to her car. He was quiet as she drove them to her apartment. He could tell her brow was furrowed in confusion as his quietness persisted. 

 

“I am sorry, Tony. If I had known how it would have affected you, I would not have done this the way I have.”

 

“This?”

 

Ziva swallowed, “yes, Tony. You are an enigma. When I did up dossiers of Gibbs and his team, yours was the one I had the most trouble on. It seemed as if after your birth in 1970, you disappeared until 1993.” Tony stiffened his spine and kept his gaze out the window of the car. “So I invited the team over so I could question them about you.” That made him pause.

 

“Me?”

 

“Yes, I spent all of last night listening to your team tell me all kinds of wonderful stories. How you were there for them, all of them. Each individual person, even the ‘autopsy gremlin’ you tease so much. Yet, you play these games, Tony. You play the clown, why?” Ziva turned to face him after she had parked in front of her apartment building. 

 

“Because then no one gets hurt but me when I have to leave,” Tony sounded so resigned and just  _ lonely _ . Ziva wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort the mystery before her. She saw the facade, the mask he showed to the world. But his eyes shone with an intelligence and kindness that he just couldn’t hide sometimes. 

 

“Who says you have to leave? Ever, Tony you are a capable Agent. Gibbs would not let you go anywhere you didn’t want to go.” Ziva earnestly searched Tony’s face. 

 

“Even the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs has limitations.” 

 

“You're talking about your fear of his reaction to your secret?”

 

_ Which one? _ He hadn’t realized he had spoke aloud to Ziva until she responded. 

 

“The fact that you’re in love with Gibbs.”


	7. Hiatus Part 1

This one was different. This dream was different from any other dream they had had yet. Tony stood before his boss. They were both clothed as if they were at work. Tony was dressed to the nines, all masks in place and every word carefully considered to weave his persona as Tony DiNozzo perfectly.

Gibbs on the other hand stood in clothes that would almost seem casual. Jeans that hugged at the man’s toned ass, Sears polo under a jacket. Piercing blue eyes bore into Tony’s and he felt a weariness about life right then. Suddenly the feeling to want to tell Gibbs everything exploded within him. The feeling was always there, some days were worse than others, and right then inside this dream the feeling was overwhelming.

Tony’s heart hammered in his chest as his body began trembling with the weight of what he knew. Strong hands gripped his shoulders and he was enveloped in a strong hug. Tony relaxed into those arms and he was comforted by the fact that he had Gibbs like this, even if it was only in a dream. Tony nuzzled his face into Gibbs’ neck and inhaled deeply of sawdust and _Gibbs_.

“You carry such a weight, Tony,” Gibbs purred above him. “None of that matters here, here it’s just you and me. You trust me?”

Tony shuddered at the words, feeling his mask crack, “yes, boss.”

Lips caressed his ear, “good, now strip.” His hands couldn’t move fast enough, _why am I wearing so many clothes?_ Tony thought to himself before hands covered his. “Slowly, I want to see you remove your shield, bit. By. bit.”

Tony squirmed at the lust he heard in Gibbs’ voice. After inhaling deeply of Gibbs, he stepped back and began to slowly peel his jacket off. He heard a piano start to play in the background, but paid it no mind. He opened his eyes to see Gibbs sitting in a plain, wooden, chair that when Tony looked closer he saw creatures and shapes that he knew could only have come from his memories and Tony nearly stopped and got rid of the chair. But then he looked back to Gibbs, his gaze wasn’t on the chair. Those baby blues were focused entirely on Tony and what his hands were doing.

The first button came undone and Gibbs was on his feet and attached to Tony’s neck. “Changed my mind, _I_ want that pleasure.”

Tony’s hands moved from his shirt to Gibbs’ back as the man attacked his neck. He felt the sturdiness of the wall behind him and Gibbs hands trailed hot fire across his clothed chest as button by button, was worked from its place. Teeth nipped across flesh as it was exposed from under his suit. His shield had been carefully, lovingly removed, not ripped apart, nor discarded. Calloused hands slid up to his shoulders and Gibbs’ lips met his in that same loving gentleness.

Those hands slid from his shoulders, down his arms, taking his shirt with them. From his arms the hands moved to his stomach, all while lips rolled against his own and a tongue flicked across his bottom lip. Asking, Tony took a moment before he responded. Waiting, testing. Again the tongue flicked across his lips, this time more firmly. The hands gripping his hips making it clear that the man before him was not taking ‘no’ as an answer.

Tony felt himself smile against Gibbs’ lips before he opened his mouth and Gibbs’ tongue immediately slid against his own. He wrapped his arms around the shoulders of the other man and tried to bring them closer together. The hands at his hips held them at the distance they were. Gibbs’ forearms held out from his body and squeezing a moment. A sign to stay where he was. Tony’s hips immediately stilled at the silent order and Tony’s whimpered when Gibbs’ lips left his own.

He heard Gibbs chuckle, “patience, DiNozzo.” Tony’s head met the wall behind him with a soft thunk as he bared his throat to the man before him. “Stay, just like that. Till I tell you to move. And Tony?”

“Yes, boss,” he didn’t think he could take much more of this slow torture.

“Don’t forget to talk, tell me everything you’re feeling.”

It didn’t matter how many times Gibbs had told him that rule, Tony’s mind immediately went blank of description words to what he was feeling, being held there by Gibbs. Wrapped in the security that was Gibbs. Suddenly, Gibbs was flush up against him, “close your eyes.”

Immediately his eyes snapped shut and he felt lips at the pulsing vein of his exposed neck. His heartbeat throbbed in his neck as Gibbs’ teeth nipped at the area before trailing kisses to his clavicle, just below his throat. Tony did the best he could with describing the incredible-ness that was Gibbs’ lips and teeth and tongue all working together to have Tony practically begging to cum despite his pants not even being off his body.

Fingers worked at his button and fly and Tony cried out as a calloused hand palmed his leaking erection. Tony didn’t know what to do with his arms, so he splayed his hands against the wall at his back and let his weight rest against the wall. It felt as if every nerve was on fire and Tony honestly didn’t know when his pants had come off, but by that point he didn’t care.

Lips caressed his ear again, “I’m going to taste you, then I’m going to fuck you, DiNozzo.”

Tony groaned at the growled promises and wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around the man and hold him close. One hand twitched as if to do just that till that voice spoke in his ear again.

“Leave your hands there, DiNozzo. I like having you splayed before me. In fact.” Tony felt a clothed leg nudge his legs slightly further apart than they had been and Tony was struck by how vulnerably his body was displayed before Gibbs. “I like all of you displayed for me.”

And suddenly it didn’t matter that he was completely vulnerable, this was Gibbs. He trusted the man with everything. He wanted to tell the man before him every secret held in his head. From Harry Potter to the creation of Tony DiNozzo. The words leapt to his lips, but just then he was enveloped in a warm, wetness. Words failed him as Gibbs’ tongue swirled around his cock expertly.

At this point he knew he was just babbling nonsensical noises, or at least, he hoped so. He wasn’t aware of what he was saying, his world had zeroed down to staying as Gibbs had ordered him and that wet mouth surrounding him. Light scrapes from the man’s teeth had Tony whimpering and begging. Then those hands came back, Tony’s knees trembled as one hand cupped at his balls while the other was coated in lube and was circling his entrance.

“Fuck, Boss, that- ungh, yes, please, Merlin- fuck,” Gibbs’ mouth popped of his cock and the hand that had been on his balls wrapped around his cock. The hand slid easily in a twisting rhythm that had Tony panting. Then those lips wrapped around his balls and sucked them into that warm mouth.

He felt tears form at the sheer pleasure of it all. He kept the dialogue of his pleasures going as long as he could, but the sensations became too much when that mouth wrapped around his cock again and the hand went back to his balls. He couldn’t even yell a warning as he came so hard, Tony felt as if he had passed out for a moment.

Tony blinked blearily around him and felt the softness of his bed for a moment before he was back against the wall with Gibbs popping his mouth off his cock and Tony became aware of the two fingers that were currently massaging and stretching him for the activity to come. Lips covered his own as the fingers continued their onslaught against him. He tasted himself on the tongue that invaded his mouth.

“You’re mine,” was growled at him before his leg was lifted from the ground and wrapped around lean, muscular hips. Gibbs’ hand was still at his ass, fingers still buried deep and he whimpered at the loss of the fingers only to groan as Gibbs’ hard cock pressed at his entrance.

“Yessss,” Tony felt the hiss of parseltongue, but couldn’t find the mental capacity to draw it back. “ _Yess, bosss.”_

Gibbs’ cock twitched in interest against his entrance at the hisses that fell from Tony’s mouth. Gibbs had no idea what the hell Tony was doing, or what he was saying, but it was sexy as hell. His mouth attacked the throat before him, not wanting to interrupt the hisses that came from Tony’s mouth. He snapped his hips up and his cock was absorbed by the body before him and more hisses fell from Tony’s mouth.

  
_“Yess, pleasse- fuck me. Mark me, claim me. Take pride in me,”_ Tony begged and pleaded as Gibbs pressed himself slowly into him. His fingers twitched against the wall as well as his other leg. A hand came down and lifted his other leg so he was completely supported by Gibbs’ strength. Had Tony the mental capacity for it, he would have wondered how much was Gibbs’ real strength and how much was the Dream.

Tony’s head fell forward, hissing whispers still falling from his lips as Gibbs’ cock slid in and out of him. His legs clenched in encouragement, willing him to move faster. Hips shifted and Tony arched from the wall and into Gibbs. It was then that Tony felt the pleasant burn of his ass and his hisses became more frantic as he felt himself nearing another release.

Suddenly, Gibbs stilled with his cock buried to the hilt inside Tony. “You feel that, Tony? That’s my cock in your ass. My five out of five ass,” Tony had no time to ponder Gibbs’ words as thought left the building when Gibbs completely removed himself from Tony and slammed himself back inside, hips flush with the curve of Tony’s ass.  

Tony screamed in pleasure as thick spurts of come covered their abdomens. It was then and only then that Gibbs finally began to buck their hips together and Gibbs was soon growling his release.

***

Tony came awake and began stretching, he groaned in pleasure as his spine crackled and he lay on his bed, boneless for a moment. The ever present wet spot that he woke up to whenever he had the dreams with Gibbs. He brought his hands up to rest his head on them as he stared up at his ceiling. _That was intense. Last time I had one that intense I began saying Merlin. Then I, said, Merlin, at work._ Tony’s eyes widened. _I spoke parseltongue. Shit. I spoke parseltongue while Gibbs fucked me against a wall._ Tony thought for a second, vividly remembering every aspect of the dream. _After I started he didn’t kiss me or try to cover my mouth. In fact, if I remember correctly he kind of attacked me more._ Tony chuckled to himself at the thought of his boss being turned on by Parseltongue.

Finally, Tony’s gaze fell to the clock beside his bed and saw that he had indeed woken up at 0500. Despite having gone to bed at around 0130, he felt rested. He decided to get up and go through his normal routine of taming his hair, which without magic he would not be able to do. He finished wrestling with his hair and went to the living room and turned on the movie had been watching the night before. It was a remake and he was curious about the quality of the movie. Before long Tony had found himself enraptured by Ryan, the love interest of the mom.

He found his heart leaping at every smile the character threw at the people around him. When Ryan had done his monologue, he had found himself staring at the tv the night before, completely enraptured. He knew that Gibbs would feel the same way that Ryan guy had, _“You put the kids first, as it should be.”_ From what Tony had researched on Gibbs when he first started, habit by that point, he had learned about Shannon and Kelly. He knew that there was no way Gibbs would begrudge him not telling anyone about Teddy. By the end if the movie, Tony felt like it was a really good movie, and not just because of that Mark Harmon guy, despite what that little voice in his head said.

Despite Tony’s confidence that Gibbs wouldn’t begrudge him the secret about Teddy, it was the secret about his identity, his magic, and his past that gave him pause in any possible pursuit of Gibbs. That’s not even bringing into account the man’s pain at being a widower as well as a grieving father. It wasn’t like he could just pop up and say, _“hey, I’m in love with you and despite me having a godson, I’m really not trying to replace anyone or anything.” Couple that with a cheesy grin and that would go over great!_ _Not._ Tony slumped into his couch.

In the background he heard Ryan’s speech again and this time he really looked at the man giving that speech. The man really did look a lot like Gibbs, but there were a few important differences. There wasn’t an underlying pain in the man’s eyes. There wasn’t the hardness of combat, the man on the screen would not have been able to read Tony, let alone try to see past his masks. He knew Gibbs was constantly trying to see past his masks. Even now, just over five years together, Gibbs was still trying to see past his masks. Though he had gotten past more masks than any other place, nor person had, Gibbs still hadn’t seen his MOAS, the magic. At least not until the Dreamscape had come along.

It seemed as if as soon as that Dreamscape had come along, all his secrets wanted to leap out and wrap their tendrils around Gibbs and hold the man to him and never let him go. Tony shook his head and used his magic to expedite the rest of his morning routine. Before long he was in his car driving in to work. As he drove a dark feeling began creeping into his gut. Something was coming, something he wasn’t going to like.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony was sitting in the car. It wasn’t as bad as the time that Tony had been dressed as one of the Village People and was stuck on a telephone pole to chase down their sniper. _But that doesn’t mean I want to be stuck in the car with the probies while Gibbs is on that boat alone._ The feeling that Tony had had that morning hadn’t gone away and had made him want to turn up the frat-boy routine. He tried to keep his mind focused on movie references instead.

“This is so _Usual Suspects,_ ” Tony was trying to relieve the anxiety he felt with Gibbs on the boat and him not being able to watch the man’s six. His job.

“Tony, your final words will be, ‘I’ve seen this film.’” Ziva took the binoculars from his hands and looked in more detail at the boat.

“Gibbs even looks a little bit like Gabriel Byrne,” Tony says defensively.

“Okay, who is Gabriel Byrne,” Ziva turned to him exasperated. Tony used the opportunity to use his magic to check on Gibbs. A few lights appeared in the trail of his magic seeking out his magic attached to Gibbs’ wallet, hence why he wanted them distracted for a bit.

“An actor who boards a mysterious ship like this one searching for Keyser Soze,” Tony looked longingly out at the boat before them.

“Another Actor?”

“No, Keyser Soze is a character in the film who may or may not exist,” Tony kept his eyes riveted on the boat before them.

“I’m confused.”

McGee leaned forward from the back seat. “So am I, and I saw the DVD. Twice.”

“Sound of Music confuses you, probie,” Tony’s eyes flashed as his magic wrapped around Gibbs protectively.

“I love that movie,” the tone in Ziva’s voice called for Tony’s attention. He heard the beginning notes to which song, he didn’t care.

He quickly covered her mouth and let some of his frustration at the situation bleed into his voice. “One note and I will lock you in a room and make you listen to ‘It’s a Small World’ for 24 hours straight.” He didn’t care that the threat was pretty much empty, the meaning in his voice was clear. “Do we understand each other?”

She nodded her agreement, his tone passing along his seriousness. Conversation continued like that for a while till he felt Gibbs running through the ship. _That’s not right. Galib is supposed to be arrested and continued undercover at Gitmo_. The feeling of trepidation tripled in his gut. That feeling spread like ice across his body when they saw the explosion.

“Call EMT’s,” was all Tony had time to shout before he was out of the car and running onto the ship. He heard ZIva running at his side, “guard that gangplank, make sure no one leaves.”

He knew he elbowed some poor guard in the face when he tried to block Tony’s pathway to Gibbs. Nothing else mattered outside that moment. He just knew he had to get to Gibbs. The bulkheads passed in a blur as he made his way directly through the ship to Gibbs. Not once did he make a wrong turn on his way to his boss. Tony arrived at a room that still reeked of explosion and blood. Far too used to such smells, Tony pushed his magic towards Gibbs and made it move to heal the man. Even from across the room Tony could hear Gibbs’ wet breathing.

“I got you, boss. Hold on,” the platitudes fell from his mouth as he moved Gibbs from the room. Hands flew over in practiced movements as they checked over his boss, his magic healing the more serious injuries that Tony was sure would have killed his boss  before the EMTs had arrived. It felt like forever until the EMTs arrived and took over care of his Boss. His heart leapt to follow after his boss, but he knew what Gibbs would want him to do. Tony took a deep breath and willed himself to turn to face Ziva and McGee.

Ziva was a fractured mask of calm and McGee was openly panicked. “Call Ducky, get the gear, we have a crime scene to investigate.”

He knew he was being gruff and short, but his worry for Gibbs wouldn’t allow him to be anything else. Ducky arrived and Tony fell into the familiar role of crime scene investigation. Sure, he channeled Gibbs a little, but mostly he channeled his years after Hogwarts, when the Wizarding World in Britain had expected him to solve all their problems, like Dumbledore had. Funnily enough, when the WIzarding World had found out that a seventeen year old was calling them idiots, they didn’t like that and had let him join the Aurors.

Since then he had learned to be a bit more politically inclined, especially after working at NCIS, but with GIbbs out of commision, he found he was back in that state of mind and had no patience for anything timewasting and his movie references disappeared along with his frat-boy routine.

The guy that supposed to have Gibbs’ back on the boat was updating him of the crew, “One of the crew is missing. The radio man, Pinpin Pula.”

“Put out a BOLO,” the words automatically fell from his lips. _If only I had something of Pinpin’s I could locate him in like 30 seconds._

“Tony. Any word on Jethro?” Ducky called out to him.

Without breaking stride, Tony answered, “Not yet. Portsmouth Trauma said to call back in an hour.” _An hour that was already feeling like an eternity_ . _At least I know I took care of anything life threatening_.

“Portsmouth. Good. Good,” Tony pointedly met Ducky’s eyes and they began a quick mental conversation where Tony explained that he has found Gibbs and had performed a bit of magical triage. Ducky was concerned, but Tony had been doing the same thing to himself over the years of working in various Police Departments.

“I’ll get out that BOLO,” the guy whose name he never bothered to learn called out to him.

“We have a suspect,” Ziva asked.

“Pinpin Pula. Radio guy, only member of the crew to turn up missing.”

“Ah, a Filipino name, I believe in Tagalog it means ‘Rice Paddy Dike.’” Ducky supplied.

“Ducky,” Tony’s voice almost took on a Gibbs-like growl which caused Ziva to looked concerned into Tony’s direction.

“Right,” Ducky remained quiet after that, keeping his tangent stories to himself.

Tony let Ziva do her photos from the doorway and he heard McGee standing behind the stairs, “you’re gonna have to look in there sooner or later, McGee.”

“I-I already did,” Tony closed his eyes at the fear he heard in McGee’s voice. Kid shouldn’t have to look at that. “Ziva, I don’t think I can go in there.”

“McGee.”

“I know.”

“Don’t let Tony smell fear, or else he’ll just-”

“Probie! Got a special job for you,” Tony called out, stopping Ziva from putting more fear into McGee’s head.

“Too Late.” Tony rolled his eyes at Ziva’s comment.

“Bomb dog took point on Rice Paddy Dike’s footlocker. Tag and stow it in the truck for Abby, would you?”

“On it, boss,” Tony could hear the relief in the probie’s voice. _Kid shouldn’t have to look at that. Too late for me and Ziva already._ Tony smiled a little at the use of the word boss.

Tony stood beside Ziva in the doorway so that McGee didn’t catch a glimpse as he passed by, “I do love it when he calls me boss.”

“That why you’re being nice to him?” Ziva commented before squatting as she continued to look dispassionately into the room.

“Nice? Not being nice. Lugging footlockers is probie work. All right, I cut the probie some slack. Been a bad day.”

Ziva nodded, “Yes, very bad day.”

“What’s the point of origin?” Tony looked around the room, he hadn’t really been paying attention when he had rushed in here to save Gibbs.

“55-gallon oil drum. That twisted ring is all that’s left of it. What is an oil drum doing in a laundry compartment?”

Tony moved the flashlight over some blood patterns, “Well, ships clean them and reuse them for storage. This one probably held dirty laundry.”

“Very unsanitary,” Ziva scrunched up her face at the thought. “Fragments indicate a high explosive. Abby should be able to trace the taggant.”

“Why’s the head and torso intact when the rest of him’s a slushie?” Tony had never seen that particular pattern of destruction on the human body before.

“Suicide Bombers wearing an explosive belt look like this. Except there’s always something left of their lower extremities. You see a foot?” _Ah, and in that respect, Ziva, I think you are worse off than I am. Least I don’t have daddy issues. Then again, kind of need a dad for that._ _That reminds me, I should call Senior. Eh, later._

“Not even a tootsie,” Tony responded as he heard Ducky approach.

“A tootsie?”

“A toe.” Ducky supplied, “although in my generation, tootsie also referred to one’s sweetie pie.”

“Sweetie pie?”

“Any word from the hospital?” Tony asked knowing that Ducky would have called while he was taking care of their crime scene.

“Jethro’s critical, but stable. He wasn’t in here when the bomb detonated, was he?” Ducky asked them in disbelief.

Tony pointed to the far corner where he had drug Gibbs out of the room, “that corner.”

“Well, how did he survive?” Ducky asked wondrously. Tony was forever grateful for Ducky’s practice at behaving Mundanely. Despite knowing that without Tony, Gibbs wouldn’t have survived, Ducky still had that note of awe and disbelief in his voice.

“The washer and dryer shielded him from the main force of the blast.” Ziva looked up and slowly smiled, “It’s raining.”

_Yes, let the rain mean healing, life giving energies. Let Gibbs come back from this._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, after a long night of processing the scene of the boat, Tony called the Director for an update. She answered just as thunder rolled overhead. Ever since Tony was thirteen and falling over a hundred feet to the ground, he had never really felt comfortable around storms.

“Yikes. Agent DiNozzo here. Cynthia told me you stayed at the hospital. Is the boss awake?”

“I am, Agent DiNozzo.” _Oh, hell no. I did_ not _just spend all night cleaning up blood and guts trying to keep the image of it being Gibbs instead out of my head for this crap to be pulled on me now. I do not have the patience to deal with your fucking authority and control issues._ “You have a sit-rep for me?”

“I do, Director Shepard.” Tony barked out, the scowl not leaving his face as he glared across the water. “Crime scene’s been processed. Evidence tagged. Remains are on their way to autopsy. Officer David and Special Agent McGee are questioning the crew. We have an ID on the suspected bomber: freighter’s radio man, Pinpin Pula. Filipino. Suspected to be Abu Sayyaf. A BOLO has been issued for his apprehension. That is all I have to report, ma’am.”

“Agent DiNozzo.”

“Director,” he let a little snark fall into his voice.

“I was out of line.” _Oh no, been there done that. Not going there again. You wanted a sit-rep, I gave it to you with as little attitude as I could. I can’t promise to keep holding back._

“You are the director, Ma’am. You cannot be out of line.”

“Please,” _as if that makes everything better, bitch._ “I was bitchy. Let me apologize. I’m sorry.”

“If I may state an opinion, ma’am?” _she apologized, least I can do is make her smile._

“Fire away.”

“Never apologize. It’s a-

“Sign of weakness,” they said at the same time and he could hear the smile in her voice.

“I was his partner, too, DiNozzo.” _In more ways than I am. In the ways I want to be._ “I know all the Gibbsisms.”

“Actually, he borrowed that one from the Duke.” he couldn’t help that tidbit of movie trivia. He knew how much Gibbs liked his westerns, the old cowboy.

“John Wayne.”

“Said it to Joanne Dru in _She Wore a Yellow Ribbon_.” Tony’s lips twitched at the memory of hanging out at Gibbs’ watching some of those god-awful westerns after his bout with the plague.

“Jethro’s a lot like the Duke.”

Tony let out a huff of amusement, “I keep waiting for him to say, ‘That’ll be the day.’”

Jenny actually started chuckling, “he said that in Paris to me once when I told him that I- When we were working together.”

Finally, Tony gave voice to his main worry since this whole conversation started, “shouldn’t he be awake by now?”

“You know Gibbs. He keeps his own schedule.” _Yeah, that he does._ “Do you know what REM is?”

“Sure, rapid eye movement. Happens when you’re asleep and dreaming.”

“That’s what it looks like he’s doing right now.” _Really? Maybe I can use our Dreamscape to get to him then. Maybe find out why he hasn’t woken up. But that requires me to be asleep, and I can’t right now. Damnit!_

He kept his frustration out of his voice, but because of that his voice went a little stiff. “Oh, well, that’s got to be a good sign, right?”

“If it isn’t a nightmare,” her soft voice caused his stomach to plummet. _I need to sleep, I need to get Gibbs out of that coma._

He hung up shortly after that and headed down to where Ziva and McGee were conducting their interviews. He hovered outside the door for a moment as the Captain cursed them out in Turkish.

“I want to speak to Turkish consulate.”

“I can help with that,” Agent A, guy who was _supposed_ to have watched Gibbs’ back, offered till he was met with silence, which Tony took to mean that Ziva and McGee were staring at the man like he was an idiot. _Merlin, I love my team._ “If- If NCIS agrees.”

“We do not,” Tony walked in dramatically. Anger still simmered beneath the surface and he got a visceral pleasure out of scaring the captain for a moment. “Learn anything, Ziva?”

“Captain Mahir knows more than he’s telling.”

The man started sweating, “I know nothing.”

Tony almost did a full belly laugh at the bad lie, instead he huffed his laughter and leaned forward, “that’s very Sergeant Schultz.”

“Tony, hows the boss?” _Probie should know better than to show weakness in front of the dirtbags._

“I know nothing,” he shouted in a terrible germain accent.

“It’s not funny, Tony,” Tony’s control fractured for a moment and the power he held back shone in his eyes as the Captain looked back at him. The Captain’s eyes widened in fear at what he saw in Tony’s eyes.

“McGee, it’s the boss. He’ll be fine. With me,” Tony couldn’t quite keep the growl from his throat as he left the room. They got to the fresh air of the Harbor and Tony turned to the remainder of his team. “You know how the boss has his rules, McGee?”

Tim gulped at the suddenly serious tone that was in Tony’s voice. “Yeah?”

“Here’s one of mine: Never show weakness in front of a suspect. Got it?” Tony got in McGee’s face and made sure his statement went home.

“Weakness?”

“You asked how our boss was, they already know we’re on edge because of that. They don’t need to be reminded of that. You want to know how the Boss is, you ask, privately.” Tony kept his gaze firmly on Tim’s eyes.

It took a moment, but McGee nodded, “okay, so how is the boss?”

Tony took a step back and leaned against the rail, “won’t wake up, doctors don’t know why. Called in a specialist to take a look. Now the best way we can help the boss right now is to continue our investigation till he comes back. Now, why do you suspect the captain?” Tony asked turning to Ziva.

“He smokes expensive Havanas and wears a ten-carat diamond.”

“Could be Zircon.” Tony points out.

“Never doubt an Israeli about diamonds.” _First Kate with the bills, now Ziva and Diamonds. At least I know my niche is magic, too bad I can’t tell anyone!_ “Our Turk captain likes money. The kind Abu Sayyaf pays to transport weapons, explosives, and terrorists.”

“Kay, you take the captain in, you understand Turkish. I’ll go see how Gibbs is doing at the hospital,” Tony looked out over the bay. It felt like he was moving through sand as he drove to the hospital.

Before he knew it he was standing next to the Director looking over at Gibbs. _Merlin, just leave me alone with him for like five minutes, okay more like fifteen so I can get to sleep, but I need to try and wake him up. But, if no one will leave the next best thing to wake him up would be-_

“Coffee.”

“Coffee?” He was sure she was looking at him like he had lost his mind, but his gaze remained firmly on Gibbs.

“Sure way to wake Gibbs.”

“Good idea, but he’s intubated. We’ll have to use the IV.” He could hear the smile in her voice. He kept his gaze fixed on his desires.

“Uh, tell Ms. Sciuto that I didn’t abandon Gibbs. Chief Neurologist would have been here today anyway.” Tony nearly laughed, the guy actually looked scared of Abby.

“I’m sure she’ll understand,” Jenny offered.

“Hope so, I like women with fire,” the doctor chuckled a little.

Keeping his eyes on Gibbs, watching the monitors telling him Gibbs was alive, “So the dog collar and the tats had nothing to do with it?”

Tony’s eyes flickered to the doctor and they shared a half second of eye contact and a half smile from each. The doctor left and the Director nudged him after a second.

“DiNozzo. Does he look in pain?” Tony sent a subtle wave of magic for that suc purpose, small enough not to mess with the monitors, but powerful enough to ensure he wasn’t in any physical pain.

“That’s not pain, Director.” Tony thought of Gibbs’ history. _Wasn’t he wounded like this, in Kuwait?_ “That’s anguish.” _Wait, he was wounded in Kuwait right around the time he was informed of...Shit._

That didn’t seem to comfort her, “Doctor?”

The doc turned to face them with confusion written all over his face, “Was this man a marine?”

“Yes,” Jenny informed him.

“Wounded in Desert Storm?”

“He has a Purple Heart,” Jenny said as Tony left from his place of leaning against the wall.

“Yeah, right around the time he heard some really bad news.” Tony felt tears prickling at the back of his eyes. Jenny turned her head sharply to look at Tony curiously.

“That’s it.” The doctor looked back at Gibbs. “I treated him in Kuwait. He was in a coma when we evaced him to Frankfurt. I mean, talk about deja vu.”

“But is he in pain?” Jenny insisted. The doctor agreed with Tony’s earlier statement of the expression being more anguish than pain. Tony took a deep breath, time to step out of his own shadow. He glanced to Jenny, guess she needed him to step up too. He nodded to her.

“I’ll head back and make sure everything is running smoothly, let me know if anything changes?” His tone indicating the last part was a request, not an order. Before he left, he stopped at the doorway and placed a hand on the frame, “Director? Don’t - Just, don’t leave him alone in here. Make sure he has someone with him.”

With that Tony took off and headed back to NCIS. He went to Jenny’s office first and took care of some of her paperwork that required urgent attention and then moved on to MTAC. “I got a better chance of hooking up with Jessica Alba than these guys do of infiltrating SeaLift. Every sailor has to go through a series of stringent security checks to be issued a special ID.”

“110 Civilian crews, DiNozzo. Abu Sayyaf only needs to slip a man in one. If Galib knew who that was or the name of the ship, why’d he run? Why didn’t he just let us arrest him as planned? Give us the intel and then continue undercover to Gitmo?” _Merlin I miss Gibbs._

“Either he didn’t know, but was close to finding out, or he was on to something big that an NCIS arrest would jeopardize.”

“Well, what’s bigger than blowing up one of our ships?” Tony could almost hear Gibbs yelling, ‘ _Gee, DiNozzo, I dunno, maybe blowing up the harbor.”_

“Blowing up a port. Did you ever hear of Port Chicago?”

“No, but I saw the TV movie. Michael Jai White is the guy who- I see your point. Is there any intel on the crew, especially this Pinpin Pula guy? We need his photo for a BOLO,” Tony glanced down and made a note on his list on his clipboard.

“We took surveillance photos of the crew when they were docked at Istanbul.”

“Great,” _Now to match names with faces._

“If Galib had intel on Abu’s plans, did he have time to tell Gibbs?”

 _Shit, now would be a really good time to wake up, boss._ “Maybe,” Tony took a breath, “they were together when the bomb went off.”

“Galib was a good agent. Let’s hope Gibbs comes out of this coma in time.”

“He will,” _I’ll spend all night searching dreamscapes if I have to._ _He has to wake up, he just has to._ He quickly wrapped up the discussion and made his way down to autopsy. He needed answers for the investigation. Tony felt the telltale signs of a headache coming along and winced. He pulled out the bag of herbs he kept in his pocket and pulled out a licorice stick and began to gnaw on it, his face grimacing at the taste.

He walked into autopsy and Ducky looked at him worriedly before he ground out the word, ‘headache,’ as best he could around the stem. Ducky nodded understandingly and got right down to business.  “His skull was shattered when the explosion blew him against the overhead, as if he were fired from a cannon.”

“The oil drum,” Tony mused around his stick.

“Precisely. Now don’t ask what our guest was doing in an oil drum sitting on a bomb. Because I haven’t the foggiest.”

Tony chewed his licorice stalk for a moment, “No other explanation?”

“Well, none that would explain these remains.” Ducky led them back over to the body.

“I need a positive ID on this body, Duck.”

“Well, DNA tissue is in Abby’s capable hands. How’s Jethro?” Ducky watched as Tony froze. He watched as Tony seemed to be at war with himself over something.

“He’s still out, Director’s with him. I’ve been covering all the bases till they get back, but Ducky. I- I might have a way to reach him, but it would require me to sleep. And with me covering all the bases here, I can’t do that.” Tony slammed his fist down on the autopsy table, Ducky didn’t even flinch.

“Well, then. I’d best get down to Portsmouth.” Ducky smiled at Tony pointedly. If Ducky went to the hospital, then Jenny would be free to come back and handle some of this. Then he could get some ‘rest’. _Brilliant._

Tony smiled at the man gratefully, “finish the autopsy first. Then go, call me if there’s any update. Even if I’m asleep.”

“You remind me of Gibbs, in his earlier years, scheming with me. Though we mostly schemed pranks,” Tony smiled as Ducky continued to talk to the recently emptied room, emptied of the living at least.

Things were finally starting to look up, _maybe this is my day’s turn-around, maybe- ow_. Just then Tim had run out of the elevator and had headbutted Tony’s face. Tony grunted at a familiar crack as he knew his nose was broken. He immediately covered his nose with his hands so the probie didn’t see it. He whispered a quick ‘episkey’ and only then did he reveal his bloodied face and “perfectly ordinary” nose.

“Hate the sight of blood, Probie?” _And my day had such potential for a turn around._ “Too bad,” Tony dramatically took his hand away from his face.

“Oh boy,” Tony suppressed the grin that fought to the surface at the look on Probie’s face when Tony revealed his bloodied nose.

“Handkerchief.” Tony could feel the tears that threatened to from.

“I don’t have one,” Tony will admit to a certain amount of pleasure at seeing the meek expression on the probie’s face. “I’m-”

Tony leaned forward and used Tim’s necktie to try and soak up some of the blood, “whatever you came to say better be pretty damn important.”

“Abby slapped Ziva and Ziva slapped her back.” Tony froze as he felt Tim’s hands above his head undoing the tie from around the Probie’s neck. _Yeah, I’d be distracted by that too._

“Damn! I missed it?” _Can’t say I’m surprised, their different ways of grieving were bound to clash._

“Yeah,” Tim’s eyes got a serious look to them as he nodded.

“Alright, assemble the team, including Abby.” Tony stalked for the bathroom where he sensed Ziva. He had given her an enchanted ‘gift’ once it was official that she was a part of the team. Most of the time he let Ziva handle herself, but this time he focused his senses on her.

“Abby?” Till McGee called him back. Tony turned back and stared at McGee pointedly, when the confused look persisted, Tony took the tie away from his face. “Right.” Finally McGee scurried off and Tony headed for the bathroom.

He walked through the door and met her eyes through the mirror, he didn’t press at her mind, but he could practically hear the voices of their friends and co-workers yelling at her for her ‘inability to care’. She glared at him through the mirror, but remained silent. Tony pulled the tie from his face. She saw the blood that had been wiped away by the tie and her eyes widened in concern.

Instead of answering her, he silently went over to the sink and used the bloodied tie to wash his face. Once his face was clean he wadded up the tie and put it in his pocket. He would use magic to clean and fix it later. He pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket and wordlessly handed it to her. Her eyes narrowed at him in confusion till she saw the star of david stitched into one corner of the handkerchief.

“Just because some people don’t see it, doesn’t mean you don’t care,” he saw the tears beginning to well in her eyes at his words and he quietly left her in the bathroom. They all gathered in the bullpen and he told them all to go home, get some rest.

“No, Tony. Go see Gibbs at the hospital, we’ll keep working here,” Ziva placed her hand over his and he looked to each of their faces. He nodded once and gathered his stuff and left without another word.

He saw Jenny leaving just as he was arriving and he quickly made his way inside. Tony gave a thought to warn the nurses that their electrical monitors may go on the fritz tonight, till he saw the storm through the windows of Gibbs’ room. _Finally, something goes my way today._ Tony grinned and settled himself in the chair next to Gibbs’ bed. He turned to face his boss and paused. He was about to invade his Boss’ dreams. It was a total invasion of privacy.

_So was when you investigated him after he offered you a job. You had to make sure he wasn’t a Death Eater in disguise or something like that._

But that was for survival.

_This is for Gibbs’ survival. He would kill you if he found out about magic and learned that you hadn’t used it to wake him sooner, thus possibly saving lives._

But this is Gibbs, I know what horrors lurk in his past. What if he’s reliving it?

_All the more reason to wake him up._

What if he’s dreaming of Shannon and Kelly? Could I really tear him away from that?

 _I have to._ Tony rested his forehead on Gibbs’ bed and lifted Gibbs’ hand until it was poised over the back of his head. He let the hand fall and it made a comforting smack.

“Thanks, boss.” came the near-automatic reply. Tony let his eyes close and his magic flare a little as he left Gibbs’ hand resting on the back of his head.

Almost immediately, Tony knew he was in Gibbs’ dreams, but it was odd. Before Tony was a window that looked into the living room of a house. Tony’s heart clenched as he saw Gibbs sitting with a beautiful red headed woman who looked just like her photo. Between them was a beautiful little girl and Tony’s breath caught as he heard Gibbs’ laughter. A real full bellied laugh. Tony had managed to get a couple out of his boss over the years. Each one a precious gift that Tony had had to pry out of his boss with a crow bar, but the were worth the work. Gibbs’ laugh was beautiful.

The scenery changed and Gibbs was standing in an old NIS office. “Much as I’d like to, I can’t tell you where the bastard’s hiding, Gunny.” An unfamiliar gruff voice spoke and Tony caught a glimpse of a gruff looking man with a mustache tossing a folder onto the desk.

“I didn’t ask you to, Special Agent Franks.” _Mike Franks, the NIS agent assigned to the case._ Tony’s heart broke a little more at the pain he heard in Gibbs’ voice.

Franks set the file on the desk. “I’m going to take a leak.” Franks left and Gibbs wasted no time in looking into the file. _Yeah, then Gibbs take a trip down to Mexico where he kills the bastard. You don’t need to go through this again, boss._

“Boss,” Tony called out. Even to his ears it sounded like he was underwater. _Boss is_ really _stuck in the past._ “Boss, I know it hurts, but you have to come back. Come back to us.”

Tony took a deep breath and forced his way into the dream. His hand touched the doorknob of the office Gibbs was in and pain lacerated through Tony. Pain that he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was the pain he felt when his godfather fell through the veil. It was the pain that he felt when he saw Moony’s corpse lying next to Tonks’.  Pain at seeing Kate lying on a slab in autopsy. It was the deep pain of loss.

He took a shaky breath and pushed onward. He opened the door and Gibbs’ attention snapped to him. Confusion crossed his boss’ features before a shuttered wariness setled.

“Boss, it’s Tony.” He crossed the office as quickly as he could, which took longer than it should have given the size of the room. He grabbed one of Gibbs’ hands and brought it up to the back of his head, “I need you to wake up now, Boss.”

A thoughtful look crossed Gibbs’ features, “I know you. You’re important, like Shannon was-”

“Is, Shannon _is_ important, but right now I really need you to wake up, we need your help, Boss,” he knew he was pleading, but he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t Luna, he wasn’t some Dreamscape expert. He just enjoyed his link to Gibbs and he was trying to use that link to get his boss to wake up. “Please.”

At his quiet ‘please’ Tony felt the hand at the back of his head tighten and suddenly Tony was pulled forward and his lips met Gibbs’. A tongue swiped across his lips and Tony automatically opened his mouth before his eyes snapped open and he forcibly reminded himself why he was here and why he couldn’t let the dream do down that route. Sex dreams in a hospital room of any kind was mortifying. Tony pulled back and reluctantly, Gibbs let him pull back. The hand remained on the back of his head and Gibbs’ eyes searched Tony’s.

“This is a dream, Nathair,” it wasn’t a question and it took Tony a minute to realize ‘Nathair’ had been directed at him. The dream provided pertinent information, like the fact that the name was Old Irish and meant snake. Tony felt himself blush, he really couldn’t fault Gibbs for that one, after all _he_ had been the one to start talking in Parseltongue.

“Yes, Boss,” Tony was relieved to hear the admission though. “A dream we need you to take up from.”

“ _We_ ,” Gibbs looked wistfully at the wall that had begun to play a memory of Kelly as if from a projector.

Tony swallowed thickly, “we.” Tony waved his hand and the movie reel of Kelly was replaced with a movie reel of happy moments with the team. Abby, Ducky, Tim, Ziva. Tony tried to avoid memories with Kate, but a few popped in.  

Gibbs shook his head, “I’m not ready, Nathair.” The name sounded more and more like a pet name. “Just a little longer, please. Let me wake up on my own time.”

Tony grimaced, “just don’t hide here, Jet. We need you back.”

“You’ll watch out for them, won’t you, Tony?”

Tony found himself nodding, “I’ll get their heads on straight and figure this out before you wake up and we won’t even need you.” Tony smiled at his joke. He had a feeling in the back of his mind that things were not going to pan out the way he planned.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony walked into NCIS the next morning, an idea of how to handle Ziva and Abby’s tiff having popped into his head when he had woken up that morning. He still remembered Gibbs’ fingers twitching against the back of his head, almost in a pet. He smiled at the reminder of how he had woken up and sipped at his coffee as the elevator dinged open.

“Pay up, McGee.” Ziva called out. He saw Tim wince before standing from his chair and put a five dollar bill on Ziva’s desk. Tony walked by and grabbed the money from her desk. “Hey!”

“Gonna bet on me, I collect,” Tony set the coffee down on his desk. “Abby, front and center.” The hippo farted as Abby rose from behind Gibbs’ desk, “you too, Ziva.” Ziva wouldn’t look at him and Abby looked guilty, “I know what happened.”

They immediately began to talk over each other and he gave a sharp whistle to get their attention, “If there’s going to be any bitch-slapping on this team, I’ll do it. Clear?”

Tony looked pointedly between the two women, they slowly nodded their agreement, “Good. Now shake hands.” Ziva gives him a look. “Shake.” Abby slowly and guiltily turns towards Ziva and holds out her hand. Ziva glares at him as she takes Abby’s hand in her own. “There we go. That wasn’t so tough, was it? Now how about a little hug?” _That will make Abby feel better, and in order to make Ziva feel better I’m gonna have to have her hit me aren’t I? Yep, *sigh* fine._

They hug and Tony has to say it, “Now a deep tongue kiss.” He lifted his face so they wouldn’t hit him there and grunted as they hit his shoulder. “Now we feel better.”

Tony turned to McGee for an update, “All right, what do ya got McGee?” He tossed the newly cleaned and pressed tie onto McGee’s desk.

“We got Singapore’s surveillance photos on the Bakir Kamir crew.” McGee put them up on the screen and Ziva called out for him to make her physical copies of the photos.

“Captain Mahir will identify Pinpin Pula for the BOLO.”

“What makes you think he won’t lie?” Ziva didn’t answer McGee’s question, just smirked at him knowingly. Tony took a thoughtful sip of his coffee. He was tired of having to sneak his coffee just because his ‘frat-boy’ personna didn’t like coffee.

“Abby.”

“Um, the taggant traces on the metal fragments were Semtex from the Czech Republic. Khadafi, before we bombed him, was handing out Semtex like taffy to any terrorist with a sweet tooth.” Abby informed him.

“That eliminates my washing machine malfunction theory,” Tony spoke sarcastically as he looked over the information Abby handed him. “DNA results?”

“They should be in by now.”

“Then head down there and get ‘em for me. Go,” Tony nodded his head in the direction of the elevator that lead to Abby’s lab.

“What, you don’t think that’s Galib in Autopsy?” Tim asked. Tony gave McGee a pointed look, “He wants to be sure.”

“I’ve asked Tel Aviv if Captain Mahir is a blimp on their radar.” Ziva informed them.

“Blip,” Tony automatically corrected.

He heard Abby typing on Gibbs’ computer behind him, “DNA confirms. The body in Autopsy is NCIS Agent Abog Galib.”

 _Damn_ , “Okay. Any hits on the BOLO?”

“Too many without photos. LEOs are calling in reports on every Filipino sailor in the area.”

“Did you run any down?”

“Tony, there’s 250,000 Filipino sailors. That’s more than any nationality in the world. And the way the reports are coming in, you would think that they’re-”

“Hey! I don’t want to hear how tough it is, McGee. I want you to run them down.” _Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll lead us to Pinpin._

“Stop playing Gibbs,” _Oh now he gets a fucking backbone?_ Tony’s jaw clenches and he sends a glare Tim’s way. “There! You’re doing it right now.” Tony closed his eyes and let his anger simmer down, _Just because you think I’m ‘playing’ Gibbs doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t follow orders._ “Ziva will you help me out here?”

“It’s true, Tony.” He could almost hear the shrug she added to it. “You’re even getting a little grey around the temples.” He knew she was only saying that to get a rise out of him, he didn’t care.

Abby’s soft voice spoke to him from over Gibbs’ desk, “you’re not Gibbs, Tony.”

Finally he opened his eyes and Abby stepped back a half-step at the barely restrained power, “No, I’m not Gibbs. I’m what you’re left with. You want to talk about how tough it is to track down sailors, McGee. Try reading every single one of Gibbs’ micro expressions so he doesn’t rip out the throat of the probie that spilled coffee on him, or so he is set back on the trail of the perp when said probie looses his lead.

“Ziva, you are so wrapped up in your own head about your inability to allow yourself to ‘feel’ your worry for Gibbs that you and Abby ended up in a slap fight! Abby I expected something like this from, but you?

“Abby, no I’m not Gibbs, but that doesn’t matter because I am _Senior Field Agent_ , so, we can either continue this pissing contest or we can get to work.” he stared silently at them as they scurried to do their jobs.

Finally they were ready to question the Captain and get a photo of Pinpin Pula for the Bolo. Tony kept his gaze down at the ever present clipboard in his hands as he made notes. “Are you Turkish?”

It was almost cute watching the captain fail. “Perhaps your father or grandfather was Turkish? Before they come to America.”

“Can you see Ziva as a belly dancer?” Tony found himself intrigued, it _was_ the kind of off shoot athleticism that he could see her getting into. That along with judo or some form of martial arts. Tim just gave him a funny look. “What? He brought it up.”

“Why, because he asked if she was Turkish?”

“ _From Russia with Love_. Bond is ordered to Turkey to steal the Lecter machine from this beautiful- I mean, is there any other kind in a James Bond movie?- defecting Russian double agent, Tatiana Romanova, played by Daniela Bianchi.”

“Greek. You are Greek. Greek. That’s why you hate me.” came from the interrogation room.

“I am not Greek.”

“Greek Cypriot? It would explain you understanding Turkish and hating me.”

“I doubt Cyprus has a liaison officer in the US. But you are getting warm.”

“Liaison?”

“From the French word, ‘lier,’ which means ‘to bind.’ In this case, bind to NCIS to Mossad.” They spoke in Turkish for a moment, Captain Mahir most likely cursing his luck. Ziva probably taunting him, “I have your dossier.” She showed him what was on her palm pilot. “Another French word.”

“Dean Keaton! That’s it. Dean Keaton is the name of the character Gabriel Byrne plays in _The Usual Suspects._ I knew it’d come to me.” He could tell Tim was getting annoyed with all the movie talk, but Tony needed Tim to keep that fire burning so the Probie’s brain learned to work despite all the distractions.

“I am not a terrorist. I did not smuggle weapons into Palestine, I swear it!”

“Or Hamas suicide bombers into the port of Ashdod?”

“Mossad blames me for that, too?”

“And much more,” Ziva shook her head patronizingly.

“Now look, I am not a terrorist. No Wahabi! I fight no jihad!”

Ziva slammed her hand down on the table, “you profit from it, you swine! And for that, you should die!” The man leaned back in defeat. “Fortunately for you Captain Mahir, politique pratique has suspended Israeli reprisals against all but terrorists. And you say you are no terrorist.”

“I swear by God!”

“Convince me,” Ziva looked thoughtfully at the ‘man’ before her. She placed the photos before him, “Pinpin Pula.”

Mahir pushed a picture towards her.

“Lisa Guiraut plays one of the belly dancing women. Very hot. She’d be a grandmother by now.” _Ooh, maybe I_ do _have a thing for people of the older generation to make up for my lack of parentage...whatever, doesn’t help anything now._

“Oh, wait a second, okay. Ziva looks like her, which is-” _Failed!_

“Shh. Pay attention, Probie. Ziva’s about to get a photo for the BOLO.” She held it up for them and he nodded for McGee to scurry off. Shortly thereafter Tony got a call.

“DiNozzo.”

“Ah, yes, Anthony. It appears I have some good news as well as some bad,” Ducky’s voice came over the phone. _Bad. What could be bad? He went to visit Je-Gibbs. He should be fine!_

“Good news first, please, just this once, Duck.” Tony closed his eyes in weariness.

“Well, Jethro’s awake,” Tony’s eyes snapped open and he felt tears at his eyes in relief. _Finally!_ “But it appears he doesn’t remember me, Tony.”

“What?”

“Gibbs has no memory after 1991.”


	8. Hiatus Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs wakes up.

Ducky’s words flew Tony into a whirlwind of action for a moment as his hands flew across his keyboard and finally turning to his phone and hastily pushing the numbers. Ziva and Tim looked concerned at their Senior Field Agent.

“I know I’m not family and honestly? The guy would have left an eleven-year-old girl to die, I don’t care one way or the other if he ever gets his memory back, I just want to know if there have been anything that has helped him regain his memory. I know, uh, the christmas of ‘95 there wasn’t any improvement, but come on that was a little over ten years go. Surely there’s some- Yes I realize that. Look, I just want to know if there have been any breakthroughs in regards to regaining lost memory. Uh huh. What if it were from an explosion? No.” 

Tim and Ziva were very curious about this phone call and Tim was trying to triangulate Tony’s call. So far, all he had was that he call was to somewhere in London, England. 

“No, I’m no one of any importance, just a peon wanting his boss back, sorry Parvati.” Tony froze for a second, he was sure his accent had come out at the end of hat conversation. A subtle glance to Tim and Ziva showed that they weren’t looking at him. They probably had heard his slip-up. _Fuck!_ _Shit! I think I called her by name too. Shitballs!_ Tony shook his head. _Nothing I can do about it now, focus._

Tony remained seated at his desk with his head hung between his arms when Jenny came by, “I have good news. Gibbs has regained consciousness.”

“Yay! That’s great.” Abby excitedly hugged McGee. Tony kept his head down as he let his mind process everything that had already happened that morning. 

“However, there’s also a problem.” he could feel Jenny’s eyes boring into the back of his head, but he didn’t have time to deal with her right then. Right then Tony was fighting against himself to not just run to Je- _ damnit. Ever since that fucking shared dream I forced, I keep calling him Jethro. I can’t do that, not even in my own head.  _

Why not? 

_ Because then- _

You’ll fall in love? Ha, too late for that buddy.

_ Shut up.  _

Now you’re telling yourself to shut up, yeah, that’s mentally healthy. Better listen in, Crazy Tony.

“He has some memory loss,”  _ you call not remembering the last fourteen years or so,  _ some _ memory loss. _

“Retrogressive amnesia is totally normal after severe trauma.” Abby offered. 

“Bet it happens every time boss smacks Tony on the back of the head,” Tim smiled at his own joke. Tony finally raised his head and slammed his hands on his desk as he stood. 

“Happy as I am that the boss is awake, that doesn’t help us solve this. Director, if you’ll excuse us, we have work to do,” Tony growled as he barked out for a sit-rep. 

“Uh, right, so, Ducky says that Galib was inside the oil drum when the explosive detonated,” McGee began. “But why would he be in a laundry oil drum?”

“Maybe he was looking for his laundry.” Abby offered. Tony gave her a hard look. “Sorry.”

“So it still begs the question, why was Galib in that oil drum?”

“Maybe he was in hiding?” Ziva offered from her spot in the middle of the group.

“From who? Gibbs?” Abby questioned from the back of the group. 

“Maybe. He ran from Gibbs, even though the plan was that he was supposed to get arrested in front of the crew.” Tony mused aloud. 

“Another question: How did Pinpin Pula know Gibbs and Galib would be in the ship’s laundry?” Ziva questioned. 

“Right, because they would have had to put the bomb inside the oil drum before they got there.” Tony answered.

“Gibbs knows.” Ziva said hopefully, as if Gibbs would swoop in here and save the day after miraculously regaining his memory. 

Tony fought back down the anguish he felt at Gibbs’ loss of memory, “Gibbs also thinks the Giants just won the Super Bowl and  _ Dances with Wolves _ is an Academy Award nominee.”

“I love that movie.” Abby shrugged, her depression beginning to affect Tony, but he couldn’t order her to go anywhere. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

“Me, too.” Ziva looked ecstatic at finding something in common with Abby.

“Great, you two can have a sleepover and watch it while having a pillow fight,  _ after _ the case is over.” Tony growled at them.

“Sorry, Tony,” Abby apologized.

Tony nodded is acceptance and brought them back on track. “I need a re-enactment of the explosion, ‘kay Abs?” She nodded and ran off to do as he asked.

“Ziva, what’d you you get out of the cook?”

“Alon Atu. From the same Filipino village in Basilan as Pinpin. He’s hardcore Abu Sayyaf. He won’t talk unless-”

“No torture,” Tony said wearily,  _ I’ve had enough of that in my lifetime, no need for me to facilitate some.  _

“He won’t talk.” Ziva sounded exasperated.

“Try.” 

“Okay, but you’re tying my feet.” She walked over and grabbed some stuff from her desk.  _ Again, really don’t need any form of torture, even Ziva’s bad idioms could be a form of torture.  _

“Hands.” It had become second nature almost, to correct her idioms. It used to be a source of endless fun, but now that he’s had a year to get used to it, Tony finds the trait annoying now. 

“Those too.” Ziva stalked off to do as he told her to.

“McGee, Pinpin’s photo get added to the BOLO?”

“Yes, Tony.” McGee started to sound annoyed by Tony’s actions.  _ Well, that’s just too bad. You’re lucky I don’t just dump all of this at  _ your _ feet and see how you do, Probie.  _

“SeaLift Command get it?”

“They are faxing it to all 110 ships. There’s no way that he’s going to infiltrate SeaLift.”  _ No one can steal from Gringotts, nor sneak into Hogwarts and I’ve done both. _

“He blew up Galib and put Gibbs in a coma. Tony’s Rule Number One: Never underestimate your opponent. An eleven year old can make the conscious decision to kill someone.”  _ I did. _ Tony turned to see McGee looking at him with that wide-eyed shocked look. 

“You-” Tony gave him a glare, “Right.” 

Eventually McGee headed down to help Abby with her re-enactment and together they discovered that if Gibbs had been standing and taken by surprise by the bomb. Then he would have been dead. Abby and McGee rushed up to show and tell Tony. 

“...he’d have been blasted into the bulkhead and shredded by shrapnel.”

“Gibbs had to duck for cover before the bomb went off.” 

“He knew,” Tony couldn’t keep the awe from his voice.  _ If it had been his ‘gut’ that warned him enough to get out of the way of the bomb, then his magic is more powerful than I thought, especially for a squib. I would almost argue that if that is the case, then Gibbs would be more powerful than any squib he had encountered. Powerful enough that Gibbs might just have been a wizard that had trouble channeling his magic. Still doesn’t explain how he never would have gotten the invite to Ilvermorny, like Palmer.  _

“Yeah,” Abby sounded eager. They had the beginnings of a lead. 

“What’s wrong with this picture?” Ziva saw something.

“Nothing. McGee and I triple-checked all the numbers to make sure-”

“Not your picture. Did I make another idiomatic mistake?” Ziva sighed exasperated. 

“No. You mean something’s wrong with what we know.”  _ Pinpin blew up Gibbs. Pinpin blew up the laundry room. How did he know Gibbs and Galib would be there? How? It makes no sense- _

“Exactly. We know Galib ran. We know Gibbs pursued him. We know they were in the ship’s laundry. We know Galib sat on a bomb inside the oil drum. And, thanks to Abby and McGee, we know Gibbs knew that a bomb was about to explode. Oh, and we know Pinpin, a missing crewman on the Kamir Bakir, is an Abu Sayyaf terrorist, probably the one who planted and detonated the bomb.” Ziva summarized. 

“You left out ‘Pinpin Pula’ means ‘Rice paddy Dike,’ but other than that, damn good summation, Ziva.”

“Thank you.” She sounded surprised by the compliment. 

“So, as Ziva said, what’s wrong with this picture?”

“Gibbs knows. But he doesn’t remember.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, Gibbs couldn’t sleep. There was something not right. Waking up to find that it was the early 2000’s was disorienting. Then there was the feeling that he was forgetting something important, someone important. Nathair. It was an odd name. His mind associated it with a nickname, but he couldn’t remember a face to go with it. So in order to distract himself from his lack of memory, he watched TV. 

He  _ hated _ tv. This Ducky guy seemed nice enough, he  _ hated _ not remembering the poor man. He hated not remembering and he was so angry with himself that he wanted to throw something against the wall, but that wouldn’t bring his memory back. It wouldn’t bring  _ them _ back either. 

There it was. The source of his pain. He had failed his girls. Tv wasn’t giving him anything new. It was all the same news from ‘91. Bomb here. War there. People never changed. He got up and went into the bathroom. Maybe a familiar face will help, even if it’s his own. He stared at the mirror before him.  _ Nope, this guy’s a stranger too _ .  _ I move and he moves, so he must be me.  _ He looked down and saw a razor on the edge of the sink.  _ Maybe a shave will help. _ He set his hands at the familiar motion and even fixed his hair. 

He lay back down on his bed and closed his eyes. He managed a few cat naps here and there, but all of the sleep he had gotten had been restless and filled with haunting green eyes filled with power. Those eyes wanted him to remember, needed him to remember. He woke up from his latest ‘nap’ and swore he could see Shannon. “Shannon?” he couldn’t believe his eyes. 

“No, Jethro,”  _ guess I really can’t believe my eyes. _ “It’s me, Jenny.” He waited for the pain to hit and instead found himself missing the green eyes of his Nathair. “You still don’t remember me?” 

Suddenly he found flashes of himself entwined intimately with the woman before him. All eloquence left him as he found himself looking up at what was most likely an ex-wife or something. “Maybe.” 

“I’m Jenny.” He nodded.  _ You said that. _ “We were partners.”

“After Shannon died,” he knew it was after Shannon, any woman he remembered would have been after Shannon. 

“Yes,” she nodded. 

He looked to her,  _ maybe she’ll have some answers at least _ , “did I marry again?”

She smiled at him as if it were some joke, “three times.”  _ Hell, maybe it is a joke. _

“No way,”  _ there’s no way I would have put three women through everything I am dealing with right now. _

“Afraid so,” she chuckled. 

A bit of trepidation creeped across him, “uh, you’re an ex-wife?”

She started laughing, he really didn’t like getting things wrong, “Oh, God, no. I’m the director of NCIS.”  _ Da Fuck? No way would I sleep with the Director of any alphabet soup agency. Wait, were did that come from? Then, why would I sleep with someone I hadn’t married? Did I show her what I liked to do? We weren’t married, so probably not.  _ An uncomfortable shudder went through him.  _ Did I show those other women? Is that why they all left me? _

“For a moment, I thought you were somebody else.”

She smiled and leaned over him, “you remembered us making love, didn’t you, Jethro?” 

She felt too close, a sense of  _ wrong, wrong, wrong,  _ filled him. She shouldn’t be this close. He didn’t like it. He sat up and forced her to back out of his space. She continued to give him that annoying knowing smile, “at least that’s a start.”

She turned and pulled a photo from the portfolio she had brought with her and he took the opportunity to see what attracted her to him. He caught a glimpse of her ass, but it didn’t seem quite right to him. He still got that sense of  _ wrong, wrong, wrong, _ but it wasn’t from her body or his patchy memory. It was  _ her _ . He didn’t want her around him. He wanted Nathair. Whoever the hell that was supposed to be. 

She showed him a photo and he instantly knew that the man in the picture was bad. Very bad. “Do you recognize this man?” 

He sat up further and took the picture and stared at it, he got flashes of chasing this man through a ship, then talking in a room. But the name, that damn name wouldn’t come, “it’s like a name on the tip of my tongue, and I can’t remember.”

“Calm down, it’ll come.”

_ No, he’s dangerous. Could it be Nathair was in danger of this guy? _ “It’s important, isn’t it?” 

“Yes, very,”  _ well at least she’s honest.  _

“It’s life or death, right?” 

“Don’t get upset, Jethro. You won’t remember.” She tried to cajole him.  _ That won’t work, only Nathair knew how to calm him. No. Nathair was a new name. A nickname. It meant snake. Who was a snake? But Nathair was good, Nathair was loving. Nathair loved him.  _

“Give me a name.”  _ Maybe that will jog something. _

“Pinpin Pula.”

“That’s not his name. That can’t be his name. That’s not the name he told me.”

“You’re sure?”

“No! I’m not sure! I don’t remember! How can I be sure?” he knew it was childish to tear up the picture, but he figured a bigwig like ‘Director of NCIS’ could get another copy of one photo. The monitors started going crazy, but he didn’t care. 

“Agent Gibbs, your blood pressure is spiking.”  _ No really? _

“I’m not Agent Gibbs. I don’t know Agent Gibbs.”  _ I just want to be Jethro again.  _ “I don’t want to know Agent Gibbs! I want my family. I want Shannon.” Suddenly clinging to consciousness was all important and he had to make sure his message got across to this Jenny lady. “I want...Kelly. I want Nathair. I want...T-” With that he was unconscious in the blissful sleep induced by morphine. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This dream was different, this dream was new. He was sitting in a movie theater. He looked around at the empty space before motion flickered on the big screen. What he saw there riveted his attention to the screen. They were just flashes. 

_ “What, Tony, what do you need?” Gibbs’ eyes bore into his, hands that had caressed, now held Tony imobile.  _

_ “You.” _

_ Gibbs’ eyes darkened at the answer, “you sure, Tony? You need me? How much of me?” _

_ “All,” Tony’s eyes bore into Gibbs, he had seen the callouses on Gibbs’ hands. No way some of those calluses were from building boats. The darkness in Gibbs’ eyes pulled at Tony, called to him really. “Please, boss, I’m yours, boss.”  _

Gibbs’ mouth watered at the sight before him and wished he was in the other man’s position, the man who looked like the man in the mirror. 

_ “Fuck me, let me suck you off, please, let me bring you pleasure,” Tony whimpered as Gibbs once again pulled away for a moment. “Please, boss.” Tony smoothly sank to his knees, not feeling the concrete beneath them. “Please, boss, let me please you,” Tony’s eyes darkened with lust looked up at Gibbs. Pleading. _

A hot wet mouth wrapped around him and he quickly looked down to see the incredible green eyes of Nathair looking up at him with the same dark, pleading look on his face. The screen above them changed scenes. This time ‘Tony’ was strung up on a St. Andrew’s Cross. He groaned as his cock twitched at the sight. The same cock that was inside the mouth of the man he had wanted since he woke up. 

_ Gibbs was quiet for a long moment, “Fine, tell me about your tattoo.” Fingers brushed the magical triangle.  _

_ Tony chuckled in his restraints, oddly enough his arms didn’t feel tired, “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, boss.” _

_ “Try me,” came the only reply. _

_ Tony hung his head in defeat, “It’s a magical tattoo that is linked to a pocket dimension that holds the three most powerful magical artifacts in the world.” _

Nathair paused and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, as if to say  _ you really wanted to remember that? _ He also found himself frowning in confusion,  _ why would I want to know about magical dream tattoos?  _ The scenes shifted again and he saw himself standing next to a field that looked as if it had just been blown up near where he was standing. Except he wasn’t standing. He was on the ground, behind Tony.

_ “Tony, wherever you are, you aren’t there anymore, it’s over,” Gibbs’ hand brushed at Tony’s sleeve. Tony twitched and turned back to look at Gibbs. He still kept his body angled to see in the direction the blast had come from, but was now also looking at Gibbs. It was the blank face of battle.  _

_ “Tony,” Gibbs voice was calm, as if talking to some rabid animal. “Where are you?” _

_ “May 2, 1998,” Tony brokenly whispered. “Hog-” He suddenly shook himself and stopped talking. Tony swallowed thickly before he slowly put his weapon away. “Sorry, boss.” _

He looked down at Nathair to see that the man had rested his head on his leg and was looking contentedly up at him. “Here I was hoping for some relaxation, maybe a whip or those nipple clamps again.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. Nathair  _ wanted _ that. No. He hand caressed the side of Nathair’s face. Nathair  _ needed _ that. The man at his feet needed to know he was cared for. Needed to know that not all pain was bad, sometimes it just reminded you that you were alive. Sometimes it was a release. The man at his feet needed that release. But-

“But what if  _ I  _ don’t want that all the time?”

There was a huff of a chuckle against his leg.

“Boss, I’m happy when I see your eyes crinkle in amusement. I’m orgasmically happy when you laugh. Anything that will make you happy, I’ll do it. No questions. You say jump and I don’t even get the chance to ask how high, because I’m already in the air. Anything you need, Boss, I’m there. If I could give you back Shannon and Kelly, I would. Even if it would mean I couldn’t have you. I would give them to you in a heartbeat. So long as you’re happy.” 

The green eyes moved with the rest of his body and he found himself with a lap full of naked man. Muscled, toned,  _ hot _ naked man. “But I can’t. I can’t give them back to you. I can only do the best I can with what I’ve got, and what I’ve got is a Boss who can’t remember his team. We need you.  _ I _ need you.” 

Nathair nuzzled into his neck. Kisses were trailed up and down his chest as he sat there and enjoyed being taken care of. He felt his pleasure mounting. It felt as if he were on the cusp of completion when an incessant beeping made itself known.

“Agent Gibbs! Agent Gibbs! Are you alright?” the worried face of the nurse came into focus and he had to stop himself from lashing out at the poor woman. It had been the first dream that hadn’t had him wanting to claw his own eyes out so he wouldn’t have to watch. It had been the first dream where he had  _ wanted _ to stay. 

He tried not to growl at her, he really did, “I’m fine.”

She smiled at him gently as she went about her routine, “normally, we’d move you to a regular room but, for once, the hospital’s full up and ICU isn’t.” She glanced to the TV that was constantly on now. “Having the sound off isn’t going to help your memory.”

“Nothing new. Same war, same crimes, same politics.”

“Aren’t you surprised the Terminator is the governor of California?” 

“Nope. The Gipper was president.” She smiled at him.

“I’ll be right back with your dinner.”

“None of that baby food, okay? A steak. Rare would be nice. And french fries, please?”  _ Maybe some solid actual food would help my memory _ .  _ Lasagna.  _ Ooh, that rang a delicious bell with him.  _ But nothing store bought, homemade Lasagna, with even the noodles made from scratch. _ But who did he know that cooked like that. Nathair? His clever little snake. 

“Maybe tomorrow,” she called wearily back.

“Tomorrow I won’t be here.” he looked back up at the tv till he heard a familiar voice.  _ Oh how good that phrase feels in my mind. Familiar voice _ . 

“Hello, Probie.” Flashes of countless stake-outs flashed through his mind. 

“Hey, boss,” he quickly made to get up. Suddenly he was back in ‘91 again. 

“Damn! You got old, Marine.”

“You looked in a mirror lately?” he chuckled as he felt one of the hands lift off his shoulders.

“If you hadn’t been in a coma…” Mike pulled him into a hug instead.

Memories of Shannon and Kelly flashed through again, “they’re dead, Mike. Shannon and Kelly. They’re both dead.”

“I know,” Mike nodded sympathetically, but his eyes held a knowledge. He had gotten the bastard that had taken his girls from him. It felt good to have confirmation. Mike helped him get back into bed.

“It can’t have been 15 years.” He sighed and thought of Nathair. “Can it?” God. It feels like I just got the news in Kuwait a couple of months ago. You investigated Shannon’s murder. That’s how I met you. Camp Pendleton. You were the Special Agent in charge. Yeah. I became an Agent because of you.”  _ Just like Tony became an Agent because of me. Wait. Who was Tony? _ “You left the sniper folder on your desk so I could-” 

Mike cleared his throat loudly, and gave him a pointed look.  _ Right, illegal things. Bad practice to talk about them in a hospital.  _ “So I could join NIS. NCIS The navy changed the name that same year. 19...90...90...?”

“Two,” Mike supplied, looking hopeful. 

“We investigated crime scenes.” Mike scoffed playfully. “ _ I _ investigated crime scenes. You schlepped.” He got flashes of him carrying boxes and bags of stuff as he trailed after Mike. He then got flashes of a man trailing after him the same way he had after Mike. Maybe not the same way. The man following him appreciated his ass a lot more than Gibbs appreciated Mike’s. 

“You taught me how to be an agent.”

“No. I didn’t teach. You observed.” _Just like how I taught Tony._ _Who the fuck is this Tony? Why does this name keep popping up?_ He just wanted Nathair. Nathair and his open acceptance of Gibbs. Everything he was, it seemed as if Nathair loved it all. Then he got flashes of Mike leaving NCIS. 

“Khobar Towers. You warned them about Bin Laden. They didn’t listen. And you quit.” 

“I didn’t quit. I retired,” Mike continued to stare out the window as he shook a cigarette out of the carton. 

“You were pissed that they wouldn’t listen, Mike. Pissed that all Clinton did was lob a couple of cruise missiles at Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.  You quit, Mike.” 

“I didn’t get calluses on my ass flying from Mexico to argue, Jethro.”

“Okay,”  _ that’s fair. _ “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Never say you’re sorry. It’s a sign of weakness.” 

“Why are you here, Mike?”  _ Surely they didn’t call you back just for me and what I know.  _

“Your director called me in. What’s with a female NCIS director crap?” Mike bitched at him.

Gibbs shook his head, he was just as confused, but had no qualms about a female director, just  _ that _ female director. “I don’t know. I only remember Jenny as a-”

“Jenny?” Mike sneered the name.

“Yeah. Jenny. She said she was my partner.”

“What kind of partner?”

_ Now there was a really good question.  _ Gibbs’ mouth floundered for a moment, but he was saved by the nurse telling Mike he couldn’t smoke in  _ any  _ public building. “Another good reason to live in Mexico.” Gibbs chuckled and held up his cup of water for Mike to douse the cigarette in. 

Shortly after that Mike helped him sneak out and got him a steak. An actual steak. None of that baby food crap. Mike told him about 9/11 and the rolling in his stomach may not have been entirely that new’s fault.  _ Maybe I’m not ready for steak. _ Mike told him the death toll and he couldn’t hold it back. He retched into the nearby trash can. He felt a little shaky after retching up his meal, so he sat back down. “That nurse is right. I’m not ready for a steak.” 

“Well, tell me we did more than toss a couple of cruise missiles.”

“We did more.”

“Bin Laden?”  _ That bastard had better be dead. _

“I don’t know.”

“How the hell can you not know?”

Mike sighed heavily and sat down before him, “remember that beach in Baja we fished?” 

Gibbs took a minute to rack his patched up brain for the requested information, after a bit the location flashed through his mind with a few memories to help with context. “Yeah. South of El Rosario.”

“I built a little place there. No TV, no radio, no newspapers. I fish, I drink beer, listen to old eight-track tapes. Drive to a cantina up the coast when I want company. When the pickup’s running.”  _ Add in me and Nathair and it sounds pretty perfect to me. _ “This is the first time I’ve been to El Norte in ten years. Don’t ask me for a sit-rep, Jethro. I don’t know.”

“You don’t want to know.”

“That’s right. I don’t want to know”

“You feel guilty because you quit. If you hadn’t quit, maybe you’re the one that stops it.”

“You didn’t quit.”  _ No I just got blown up and my one resource for a link in my memory is you and you haven’t been up here in ten years.  _

What about Nathair?

_ Nathair’s not here.  _

That thought sobered him and he went back to his room without a fuss or explanation other than he just wanted some fresh air. It wasn’t until later that night when he had a nighttime visitor in his room that things got interesting again. She was a beautiful young woman that had come to see him and she had tried to wake him so gently, but his reflexes from the corp. prevented that. He looked closely at her face, it rang some bells. 

“Yeah?”

She placed a hand to her chest, “Ziva.”

“We work together?”

“Yes. I’m a Mossad officer attached to your team.”

“Mossad? When did they start doing that?” 

“It’s been a year.” He looked up to see her staring at him critically.

“Don’t feel bad. I worked with that M.E. for-”

“Ducky. Ten years. And you don’t remember him.”

“You always finish people’s sentences?” 

“Only when I’m in a hurry. Abu Sayyaf is planning a terrorist attack on the Navy. It will be as devastating as-” Gibbs sat up and held his head for a moment as she talked. 

“9/11.” 

“You remember 9/11?”

“My boss told me.” He rose to get up and she stood to the side and let him get himself to his feet. It was nice that all these people were visiting him, but he just wanted someone to visit him like Mike had. Mike hadn’t cared one way or the other what or who he remembered. He wanted Nathair. 

“Director Shepard?” 

“No, no. My boss. It doesn’t matter. What can I do?”  _ These people won’t stop coming to see me unless I remember them. Maybe I’ll remember who Nathair is.  _ He stood before her and her hands grasped his face. 

“Remember.”

He scowled at her, “I’ve been trying to since I woke up in this room!”

“Well, try harder!” His eyes narrowed and he sent her a withering glare. “Good, that’s a start.”

_ What? _ “What is?” he knew he was shouting and pretty soon the nurses would be in here insisting that he rest. 

“The old Gibbs stare. You gave it to all of us: McGee, Tony, me!”  _ So Tony is a guy I work with, but who is Nathair? _

The confusion got to be too much for a bit, “What are you talking about?” She then took his hand and smacked herself upside her head with his hand. Flashes of slapping the back of her head crossed through his mind. 

Tears started forming in her eyes, “Ari. Ari killed Kate.” Kate’s death flashed through his mind. _Nathair was on the rooftop with me when Kate died._ _Or was it Nathair had showed himself to Gibbs after Kate died?_ “And I-” She sobbed brokenly, “I killed Ari.” That memory flashed through his mind. Ari had died in his basement. _Her brother. Ari was her brother._

“Your brother.” Finally a piece of information that he hadn’t had to be told. 

“Yeah.” 

“You killed your brother?” She just continued to sob. “To save me.” She just nodded and he pulled her into a hug as more memories seemed to flood him. Memories of McGee joining and how the Probie was learning from Tony. Tony, his Second In Command. 

Ziva calmed herself down and left to make some phone calls when he revealed to her that memories kept flooding him. He sat on the edge of his bed while Ziva worked to get him out of there and on his way to MTAC to hopefully save some lives. Pacci’s death flashed through his mind and he thought over how Kate had teased Tony for kissing a man. Oddly enough Tony hadn’t looked uncomfortable or homophobic, more horrified at kissing Pacci’s killer. 

Tony, Tony, Tony. _ Why is Tony so important? Why do I feel empty inside? Since he started up I’ve felt… The wallet! Tony probably has it, he’s good like that. Always anticipating.  _ Gibbs smiled to himself and let Ziva lead him out of the hospital. He barely paid any attention to her driving, his thoughts kept drifting to Nathair and how much he missed the man. He was sure Nathair was a man. 

He stepped off the now familiar elevator and a part of him leapt at joy at seeing Tony on his feet already, but he couldn’t bring himself to even say Tony’s name, so he just called out the other Agent’s name and blamed it on faulty memory. He tried to make his way up to MTAC as quickly as he could,but he found himself with an armful of Abby. He felt himself stumbling back and knew his team was there to catch him. 

“Hey Abby. Good to remember you, Abs.” He saw Ducky behind Abby as he tried to walk forward again, “Ducky. How could I forget that your mother left you on a bus.”

“I have no idea, Jethro.”   
  


“Should you be out of the hospital, Gibbs?” Abby’s worried voice washed over him. 

“No time, Abs. Talk to you both later.” He reached the landing and stopped to catch his breath. He stopped and saw a picture of Pinpin next to Galib. “I should have known it wasn’t Galib.” A chorus of defensive ‘no’s sounded from behind him. One voice for some reason, his ears picked up instantly over the chorus of his team. 

“No, boss, I’d have made the same mistake.”

“Well, yeah, DiNozzo. I know. That’s why I’m so pissed.” Before he could stop it, his hand came up and slapped the back of Tony’s head.  _ Ah, it felt so good to have my hand on him. But what about Nathair. Still no sign of him. _

“You didn’t forget me!” Gibbs can hear the hope and want in Tony’s voice.  _ That doesn’t sound right. I remember Tony checking out my ass in the early years, but it was Nathair that had stood me in the elevator after Kate’s death. Tony was the one to almost be accused of murder. _

“Nineteen would seem an acceptable loss, then,” Deputy Director Welsh of the NSO said on screen as Gibbs walked in.

“No death is acceptable when it’s unnecessary.”

“Deputy Director Welsh, Special Agent Gibbs.” He barely heard Jenny’s introduction as he looked around the room.

“This terrorist isn’t after a cruise liner.”

“Islamic terrorists love soft targets.”  _ as if there could be no other possible target _ .

“No, he wants the Marine assault ship the Cape Fear is replenishing in the gulf.”

“You don’t know what he wants,” Gibbs wanted to scream at the condescending tone Welsh was giving him. “He’s a terrorist. A cruise ship, the Suez Canal.”

“He told me!” Gibbs had finally reached the end of his short patience. 

“He told you?”

“Pinpin Pula is an arrogant son of a bitch. He thought the bomb he planted would kill me.”

“So he’s not a suicide bomber.”

“For God’s sakes, order that frigate to break off!” He looked pleadingly at the man on the screen. The man’s face just hardened and shook in a ‘no’ pattern.

“I can’t do that.” 

Gibbs looked to Jenny for any help, he didn’t see any there and he was too angry to look anywhere else. These sailors were going to die because  _ they _ wanted it to look good. “Is everyone up there as stupid as you?” A small part of him was pleased by Welsh backing up and sitting back in his chair defensively. “Pinpin Pula is on the Cape Fear. He’s the radioman! He intercepts every BOLO we send him and he replies, ‘no Pinpin here.’”

“We got that, Special Agent Gibbs. It’s why we didn’t communicate with Cape Fear until now.” Just then the arrows lined up and Gibbs searched the screen, he wasn’t going to get any help at saving those servicemen by himself. 

“Jeff, thank God you’re there. Can you get your SEALS onboard without being seen?”

“We can execute a HALO insertion within ten hours.” _ Damn. That’s too long. _

“The Cape Fear will have entered the Med. That’s unacceptable. If anything happens, it’ll be on some tourist video camera.”  _ Are you fucking kidding me? You’re going to sentence these men and women to death so you can save face? _

“The sailors on that frigate have video cameras!”

“We can confiscate those videos.”

“What?”  _ Are you serious? You would rather let good men and women die so you can control the media?! _ His roar made Jenny shake at his side, “You don’t want this being  _ seen _ ?”

“An accident at sea is better than an act of terrorism.”

“Tell that to the men and women you’ve just killed.” He bit out at the man on the screen. “You bastard!” Gibbs stalked out of MTAC, not bothering to watch as innocent men and women were blown up. He went and sat in Jenny’s office. 

_ It’s the Khobar Towers all over again. Mike warned them and they didn’t listen. I tried to tell them, but they were too worried about saving face. How can I continue to work towards a world that will kill it’s military, just to save face?  _ Jenny came in shortly after and silently poured herself a drink. They sat in silence for a while while Gibbs gathered the tattered remains of his calm. 

“I was wrong.”

“You weren’t wrong.”

“I was angry at Mike. I never understood how he could quit...until now.” He stood from the visitor’s side of Jenny’s desk. She didn’t say anything when he calmly walked out of her office and made his way down to his desk. He pulled out the drawer that normally held his gear when DiNozzo spoke up. 

“Oh, uh, I got them, boss. I, uh, got them from the medics, when they took you.” An odd feeling crossed Gibbs’ chest at that. He took his gun, badge, and wallet from his soon to be former second in command. He looked them over and swore he saw an extra bit of stitching on his wallet that wasn’t there before. Finally. That feeling of warmth and security he had been missing washed over him as his fingers closed around the wallet.

“Appreciate it.” it felt like his voice was thick with some unknown emotion, but it was just Tony. Not like it was Nathair. He put the wallet in the pocket of the scrubs he wore and walked around the desk to hand Tony his gun and badge. It felt right somehow that since he was leaving for the same reason as Mike, he should say Mike’s parting words as well. “You’ll do.” 

He knew Tony had done his best to hold everything together. His absence, Jenny seeing him at the hospital and thus adding to Tony’s workload. The man had done a wonderful job with what he had been given. Suddenly the words ‘you’ll do’ just didn’t seem enough, but he didn’t know what would be the right words either. Instead he grasped Tony’s shoulder and tried not to show any reaction to the connection his touch caused. “It’s your team now.”

“Tim, you’re a good agent. Don’t let him tell you otherwise.” 

***

“I won’t, boss.” Tim’s words were thick with emotion. Tony nearly didn’t hear Abby’s squeak of protest as Gibbs moved to her next. Instead, Tony stood frozen before Gibbs’ desk. He was afraid if he so much as blinked, then tears would fall, or he would get violent, or his magic would go haywire and cause all the computers to freak out. Instead Tony just stood there with his eyes closed as Gibbs said what was seen as a final farewell. 

“I owe you, Ziva.” Gibbs words to their liaison officer tore through Tony like a freight train. His already shaky control cracked and a fizzle was heard from a computer on the other side of their bullpen, but none paid it any mind. _He owed_ her _!?!?!?!?! Are you fucking kidding me? Who was the one that traipsed all over your dreams trying to find you and bring you back? Who constantly runs down leads to keep you happy and solve your case before you bite the head off the latest probie. Even Morrow would have had to have done something with you with your overturn rate till I got here. But no, you owe fucking Ziva._ _Fine. Everyone else in my life left me, why should you be any different, Gibbs? Just the latest in a long line of those I love leaving me._

“I’ll collect, Jethro,”  _ and where the fuck does she get off calling him Jethro?  _

There was a moment when Tony knew Gibbs was looking at them all from over by the elevator, Tony couldn’t watch. He just stayed hunched over at Gibbs’ desk.  _ Guess it’s my desk now, huh? _

“Semper Fi.” Tony wanted to throw the desks. A chair. A computer. Something. Instead he managed to gain himself back under control and stalked for the stairs in an attempt to avoid Ducky and Gibbs. 

“Tony,” Jenny called out to him.

“I’m going home, Director. I’ll see you on Monday.”


	9. Aftermath

The first week was by far the worst. Gibbs was gone and Tony felt as if he were trying to save the sinking ship with a bucket when the ship was already half filled with water. He had spent the majority of his time logging late hours, picking up Ziva and McGee’s slack. Abby tried to get him to come out with her and to tell her of his woes. But he couldn’t, he had to save the sinking ship. He hadn’t even had time to deal with his own grief. He set silent magical alarms to wake him periodically throughout the day and the night. He didn’t want to dream. He couldn’t deal with that right now, if the dreams continued...Well, Tony really didn’t want to think about it. 

 

After that first week though, Ziva and Tim’s reports improved significantly and Tony no longer had to fix their reports. He had also started to find that more and more of the duties of Senior Field Agent were being done before he could get to them. It appeared that Ziva and Tim elected to both fill the role and had seamlessly divided the duties. 

 

Suddenly Tony found himself with nothing to do, no conceivable reason to stay late. He found himself in the evidence garage and an idea occurred to him. He quickly ran back up to his desk. He hadn’t found time yet to transfer everything over, and a small part of him wasn’t ready for that. Luckily Jenny and the team understood and may even respect him for it. He spent the next week cleaning and reorganizing their evidence truck, complete with big bold labels. His childhood of cleaning for his family had made him a little anal retentive. 

 

Again Tony found himself with nothing to do after the truck was clean and organized to his standards. Then one day after work he stood and stared at Gibbs’ desk. He knew the building was mostly empty and pretty much everyone but the Autopsy Gremlin had gone home. That knowledge went to the back of his mind as he took a breath and pulled the keys to the desk from his pocket. 

 

It was time. He nodded to himself resolutely and began going through his Boss’ desk. He found the usual. Random cold case files that Gibbs had been looking at in his spare time. Tony winced at the cases being ignored for so long, but he set them aside to look through himself. After a few hours of digging through the man’s desk Tony came across something that gave him pause. An old worn leather bound journal. 

 

Before he could think better of it, Tony had opened the journal to the middle and stared down in shock. It was Gibbs’ handwriting. They were notes. Notes centered around one person: Nathair. However, as Tony read the journal, he realized they were notes about him. Scars that Gibbs had noticed, habits, likes, dislikes. He started flipping pages. He saw all kinds of notes. All around him. Inner thoughts, personal opinions, fantasies. Tony felt the prickle of tears, but was caught by surprise when the first tear fell onto the pages before him. 

 

In a fit of rage, Tony threw the journal across the bullpen not caring that some of the pages fell out. He fell out of his rolling chair and leaned against the divider as he sat on the floor. 

 

“Repairo,” was quietly whispered and the pages that had fallen out of the journal fixed themselves as they slowly slid across the floor. “You okay, Tony?”

 

Red rimmed eyes slowly moved up to see Palmer standing at the opening of the Bullpen, looking at him worriedly. Tony heaved a heavy sigh and rested his head against the divider, “no, Jimmy, I’m not.” 

 

“You want to talk about it? I’ve been told I’m a really good lister,” Jimmy looked at Tony with such a eager and honest look that Tony nearly laughed aloud. 

 

“Found that journal in Gibbs’ desk.” and really that’s what it was until Tony finished this. Jimmy’s eyes refocused on the journal on the floor in the middle of the circle of desks. He looked to Tony questioningly. Tony brought his knees up and hid his face in his arms. They were silent for a while the only sounds were the rustling of the pages as Palmer made his way through the journal. 

 

“Tony- did you feel the same?”

 

“Yeah, I do,” came the muffled reply. 

 

“Oh Tony,” Tony’s head snapped up and watched as Palmer sat on the ground next to him, shoulders touching, but no other contact was made. 

 

“Guess you get to be the lucky one that gets to see me break,” Tony smiled ruefully.

 

“You’re not breaking Tony, you’re looking for distractions so you won’t have to deal with missing Gibbs,”  _ insightful little bastard _ . 

 

“I thought you were supposed to be a  _ listener _ , Autopsy Gremlin,” Tony growled, still not looking at Palmer.

 

“I am listening to you, I’m just offering my opinion as well,” Tony felt Jimmy shrug his shoulders. 

 

Tony ran a hand through his hair, a habit from his past, a habit that Gibbs had made a notation that he only did when working on cases relating to child abuse or orphans. “Fine, guess I need to deal with my issues and Gibbs’ desk is where I start then. But after that, what am I supposed to do?”

 

“Lead. Take care of things. Hold down the fort till his brain resets and he comes back. Or, if you have no hope that he’s coming back, then lead this team to the best of  _ your _ ability. Don’t worry about people comparing you to Gibbs, you’ve worked with him the longest besides Doctor Mallard. There’s bound to be similarities.” A thought occurred to Tony. 

 

“Don’t suppose anyone has seen if he did anything with the house, maybe I’ll look into that,” Palmer smiled at him.

 

“See, just keep finding the next thing to do and before you know it time will have gone by and you’ll find that while it’d be good if he came back, you’re okay without him too.” 

 

Tony started chuckling, “sure you didn’t go into the wrong field, Palmer. You should be a counselor or something.”

 

“But then the stubborn ones like you and Gibbs would have no one to talk to. Heaven knows you two would never actually see a psychiatrist no matter what anyone said, or even if you did, whether or not you told the truth would be another story. He had Doctor Mallard. I would be honored to call myself your friend, Anthony DiNozzo.” 

 

A thickness built in his throat, the want, the need to talk, to tell someone, anyone, the truth. The whole story of it. The temptation was strong, besides, hadn’t Palmer already proven trustworthy. He had never breathed a word of what he was sure to have overheard in Autopsy to anyone, even withstanding Abby a few times. He really needed someone other than the dead to talk to. 

 

“Harry Potter.” 

 

Jimmy’s gaze turned quickly to the man beside him, it sounded like Tony, but the accent wasn’t right. 

 

“I was born Harry James Potter on July 31, 1980. I defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort, AKA Tom Riddle, when I was seventeen. I spent three years just studying magic the way  _ I  _ wanted. I’ll admit that ‘Mione and Gin were rather worried I had dropped off the face of the planet. But I came out and went straight into the Auror program. Three years later, after being engaged for six months, I catch Ginny in bed with one of my school mates. Dean Thomas, he was in my year, in my dorm. We weren’t close, but I figured I had hoped I had rated higher than that in his book. 

 

“Then there was the constant tabloids. Every time I so much as took a piss in public and by lunch the entire wizarding world was discussing the size of my dick. It was ridiculous, after what had happened with Ginny, I had had enough. I went to Kingsley and he had a solution. He had been cursed that week and was slowly dying, so he was in the perfect position to steal the experimental time turner that they were working on in Britain.”

 

“I remember hearing about that, but that was May of 2003, you had already been at Baltimore over a year by then.” the question evident in the statement. 

 

Tony smiled, “getting there. I got the time turner and went back ten years with a friend of mine. Together he and I fabricated the lives of Anthony DiNozzos Jr. and Sr. He wanted a fresh start as well and I felt I owed him.”

 

“So what did you do in 1993?”

 

“First thing we did was get to America. Then we created Anthony DiNozzo Sr. and Jr. My friend had left the Wizarding world after his son had died and became quite proficient with computers. He created our lives and the rest is accurate.”

 

“So everything in your history after 1993 is accurate?”

 

Tony waved his hand in a ‘so-so’ gesture, “for the most part, definitely accurate after 1994.”

 

“So you’ve been talking with Doctor Mallard about the Battle of Hogwarts, then.” Jimmy gasped as a realization hit him. 

 

Tony cleared his throat and resettled himself on the ground, “yeah. It’s just bad luck that I’ve had to deal with explosions. After our first case with Ziva, I figured it was time to actually talk to  _ someone _ , why not be a guinea pig for the M.E. going through the classes.”

 

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see an actual professional,” Jimmy lightly admonished. 

 

Tony’s eyes fickered to Jimmy’s, “alright, Autopsy Gremlin, obligatory prompt to seek professional help received. Now, get outta here, I’ve got work to do.” Tony did feel better, having told just one person. They rose and before Jimmy left the bullpen, “Oh, and Autopsy Gremlin?”

 

“Yeah, yeah I know if I tell anyone you’ll kill me,” Jimmy smiled good naturedly.

 

“Actually I was gonna say, thanks for listening and Ducky doesn’t know about the Harry Potter stuff,” the accent was gone and Tony was back to being hunched over the desk moments later so Jimmy quickly left and rode the elevator down to autopsy.

 

Once in Autopsy he began to pace and jump in glee, “Did I just become the Ducky to his Gibbs? I think I did! Then Tony is Harry? What?! Ohmygod! I just gave Harry freaking Potter life advice!” Suddenly a thought stopped him in his tracks. “Harry Potter is is love with Gibbs.” Palmer blinked at the room around him for a moment and caught his breath. “Tony DiNozzo is Harry Potter, huh? Did not see that one coming. I wonder how much truth was woven into the stories he told about his childhood?” Palmer wondered aloud to himself. 

 

Around 0300 Tony took a break from organizing Gibbs desk and dealing with what was in and on it. He sat at the computer and accessed the security logs. He deleted and edited the security footage so that the statute of secrecy was maintained. Since he was a wizard working in a Mundane work environment, the magical community in America had gone with the times and required that witches and wizards complete training in removing electronic evidence of magic. 

 

Normally Ducky and Palmer took care of their own magic use and Tony took care of his, but Palmer had come up to the Bullpen and helped him. Plus, it gave him something to do. Then he spent the rest of the night cleaning out Gibbs’ desk. When he was done he stood before it and stared down at it.  _ I should stop here, let the team see the cleared desk and get used to that before moving my stuff over. Besides, I don’t think I’m ready for that desk yet.  _

 

The next day they caught a case and the team’s third week without Gibbs went by quickly. He had had to reel Ziva back in a couple of times, and she resisted each time, but it was getting easier. He was learning which buttons to push and which ones not to push. Tim had really started to step up and showed a confidence that Tony had been waiting to see since day one. 

 

Then things went sour. Tony moved to the Team Lead desk and they got their own Probie. Agent Lee. Then Ziva and Tim had started to team up against him and when Tony tried to reel Ziva in, Tim was there to distract, redirect, or downright get in his way. It had been a hard week and Tony had to get out of NCIS for a while, but he couldn’t go home. So, he went to the one place where things made sense, or at least where they used to. 

 

The door was unlocked, no surprise there. Mail had piled up in the mailbox, again, no surprise. Tony gathered it and headed inside. He knew it was unlawful, but he didn’t care. He opened Gibbs’ mail. He quickly found out that Gibbs had just left without a word to the bank, the utility companies, or anything. Tony’s eyes narrowed.  _ Really? On top of everything else, he just abandoned this house?  _ For the first time he looked around the house and saw a fine layer of dust had settled. Tony took a deep breath and set the mail on the coffee table. 

 

The fourth week without Gibbs was rough, but Tony got through it by going to Gibbs’ every week and cleaning the shit out of the house. One night, Tony had been cleaning and was so exhausted that once the house was cleaned, Tony collapsed onto the couch in the living room and slept.

 

Tony next woke up and found that it was Sunday evening, he had slept the entire weekend. From Friday night to Sunday night and Tony winced as his stomach growled loudly. He quickly called the closest pizza place and waited in the silence that was his Boss’ house. The pizza boy dropped off the food and Tony ate in silence. He quickly cleaned up and just as he was about to leave he saw something. It was a picture. 

 

It was one of the candid pictures that Ziva had taken of him in retaliation for him always doing it at crime scenes. It looked like it had been in a wallet, rage flooded Tony.  _ All this time he had had a picture of me in his wallet and when he runs off to Mexico, he pulls it out? What does that even mean?  _ Tony knew he needed an outlet and before he knew it he was in the kitchen and throwing Gibbs’ glassware every which way as his fingers sent the dishes flying. His fingers grasped the cupboard and he knew it was empty.

 

He choked out a sob and realized that he had been crying while he had been throwing Gibbs’ dishware. “Why?! What the hell was I to you?” 

 

Tony fell to his hands and knees, not caring that he was being cut and the glass was digging into his knees. “Why did you have to go away? Wasn’t I good enough? Why couldn’t you stay? Just once, have someone stay with me because of  _ me _ . Not because I saved their life, not because I was some damn  _ boy-who-lived. _ I could never be  _ just _ Harry. Yet not even  _ Tony _ could keep you here.” 

 

Tony screamed and curled in on himself a bit more, the glass digging into his hands and arms, “Were they right? Am I a freak? Am all I good for is saving people? Saving people so they’re indebted to me? Is that the only way for me to be loved?” 

 

Tony knelt there and sobbed until he had no more tears to shed. He winced as he got up and used his magic to repair the broken dishes he was surrounded by. He winced again as glass flew out of his hands and knees. 

 

He left Gibbs’ in pristine condition and finally went to his home. He stepped inside his apartment and wanted nothing more than to destroy his apartment as well. The pristine order of his living space was soothing most nights. In a world full of chaos it was nice to have an orderly sanctuary, but this time the chaotic storm was within him and he just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry for days. It felt like he had been eviscerated and Tim and Ziva were laughing at his pain. He knew it was just because Ziva felt lost without the strong male figure that Gibbs was and she didn’t want Tony to measure up. 

 

The fifth week without Gibbs, he was approached by Jenny, “I have an op for you. It’ll be dangerous and it’ll be just between us.” 

 

Tony accepted the op, despite all the red flags that pinged. He was in too much pain to really care about all of that. He just needed a distraction, something to fill his nights away from NCIS. The director wanted him to pose as Jeanne Benoit’s boyfriend, get close to her and get close to La Grenouille. He knew it wasn’t fair to her, but he didn’t care. He hurt too much. He wanted to share his pain, after all misery loves company, right?

 

The sixth week found Tony at a bar, Jeanne was there. From her body language she had had a rough day, but didn’t want to be alone. He really didn’t want to do this again, so soon after Gibbs left, so what if it had only been six weeks? But he had a job to do. 

 

“Rough day?” Tony slid into the chair next to her.

 

“Yeah, pile-up on the freeway, lots of wounded,” she smiled a weary smile at him. 

 

“Tony, I’m a Professor in Film and Media over at the University.” Tony sighed at looked down at his drink.  _ I can’t do this, not right now _ . 

 

“What’s wrong?” She sounded concerned,  _ shit, my mask is slipping. _

 

“Bad break-up, trying to get back out there, you know?”

 

“Ah, she left you?”

 

_ Close enough _ , “Yeah,” his voice thick with emotion. 

 

“How about we just talk then, you’re a Professor of Film, I’ll bet you’ve been all the movies,” her easy smile made it easier. He smiled gratefully at her and before he knew it it was last call and he hadn’t had more than his initial drink. 

 

Weeks seven and eight passed easier, Tony spent more time with Abby and Jimmy outside of work and all but ignored Ziva and Tim as soon as it was quitting time. Jeanne helped too. She was smart, funny, witty. She knew what she wanted and was independent enough that he didn’t feel like he would have to study her micro expressions just to keep his coworkers alive. She listened to him when he talked and seemed to value his opinion. If she disagreed with something she discussed it. If she realized he was having an issue, she wanted him to talk about it with her. 

 

Week nine was hard. He had finally set upon a regular sleep schedule and the dreams had started up again. In the dreams, Tony begged, pleaded, bribed, cajoled, every word you could think of, Tony did it to try to get Gibbs to come back. Like a siren calling him home, hoping Gibbs would come back.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They were back in the movie theater they had been in the last time they had dreamed here. Tony knelt before the man that was quite literally of his dreams. His cheek nuzzled against a clothed knee and he watched as the bulge in his boss’ pants grew larger. 

 

“Please, Jet, I need you,” Tony begged. 

 

“I feel lost, Nathair, like I can’t find you,” came from above him. 

 

“I’m right here, you just have to come back,” clothing disappeared and he took the aching member before him into his mouth. He relished in the feel of Jet filling his mouth and quickly realized he had no gag reflex. Breathing through his nose he let the cock rest in his mouth as he knelt before his boss. 

 

Tony could feel Jet twitching beneath him and he hummed contentedly, just reveling in the connection for a moment. His own cock twitched at the pleasure building in the pit of his stomach. Hands grasped gently at the side of his head and moved his head up and down the object of his apparent worship. Tony whined a little, he just wanted the reassurance that Jet was there, he was content to just sit there with Jet’ cock in his mouth. 

 

A deep gutteral groan that sounded more like a growl than anything warned Tony that Jet was close. Tony swallowed the leaking member and felt Jet’ release hit the back of his throat and smoothly slide down his throat. He groaned contentedly, but made no move to remove the still hard member from his mouth. 

 

Fingers carded through his hair, “Nathair.”

 

Tony just hummed his contentedness at his position. The fingers gripped his hair and forced his head back. His mouth popped off with a loud and obscene ‘pop.’ He knew there were tears in his eyes, he just missed Jet so much. Lips crushed against his own and Tony felt as Jet seamlessly slid out of his chair and lowered Tony to the ground with his body covered by lean, mean, marine. 

 

“Nathair,” he said it like a prayer as kisses rained down on Tony. Tender touches burned across his flesh and Tony arched into the contact. It felt as if every touch were supercharged, or his sensitivity charged up to an eleven. Something had changed and Tony felt as if every touch Jet made was seared into his very soul. 

 

“Jet,” Tony moaned and tried to savor the feel of it on his tongue. 

 

The owner of the name growled in approval and a hand slid down his flank and brought a leg up to rest on the marine’s hip. A jerk of his hips and Jet was inside,  _ gotta love magical dreamscapes.  _ Tony thought to himself. A look of confusion crossed Jet’s face and Tony just looked up at him curiously. They stared at each other for a moment as Jet’s hips stilled with his cock still inside his Nathair. 

 

“Say it, say it all. I-” Jet’s eyes closed for a moment the look so confusion furrowing his brow, Tony lay silent, hoping. “I like the sound, I like it when you talk. Tell me everything.” Jet’s eyes snapped open and he looked imploringly at the man below him. “I want to hear it all, from your lips.” 

 

His Nathair smiled and he knew he had gotten it right. He rocked his hips and nearly howled in delight as Nathair began his babbling descriptions of what he was feeling. Jet shifted his hips slightly and Nathair started yelling that  _ that spot  _ had been hit. He slowed his rolling hips and the man beneath him began writhing, trying to make Jet increase his speed once more. 

 

He just kept his leisurely pace and moved one hand to brace above his Nathair’s head while the other hand found its way to a nipple. Quick little tugs had it hardened in no time, while Jet looked into his Nathair’s face. The lightning bolt scar on the man’s forehead would make you think he’d be easy to find, but he knew he had never met someone with that scar in that place. 

 

_ Didn’t Tony have a scar like that on his hip? _ Jet forgot the question as Nathair’s hands pulled him down and their lips crashed together once more. Nathair’s hands wrapped around his ass and those fingers. They seemed to know just where to be and where to stroke. Jet felt his resolve begin to crack. He had wanted to savor this dream. Maybe if it happened again he would try something else. Something harder. 

 

Nathair growled and attached his mouth to Jet’s shoulder. Jet howled as his hips snapped forward harder than he’d intended. 

 

***

Tony let go of Jet’s shoulder and used the distraction to pull them closer together and Tony’s lips brushed against Jet’s ear.  _ “Let go, Jet, losse control. I can take it. Usse me, fuck me. I need you, pleasse.” _

 

***

Jet heard his name amongst a pleading series of hisses that came from his Nathair. He closed his eyes and growled, his resolve was cracking again. So that was why his Nathair was named snake. Hips shifted again and Jet’s eyes opened in shock as Nathair began fucking himself on the cock that had stilled within him once more. 

 

Growls were all that was able to come forth as ropes appeared out of nowhere in their dreamscape. The ropes wove themselves around Nathair and held the man immobile. He crawled back onto his knees and deftly flipped the man below him so his face rested in pillows that were suddenly there. Jet raised the other man’s hips and lined himself up before slamming himself home once more. The groan of pleasure beneath him made him grin a little ferally. His hand grasped the knot the rope had made in the middle of the other man’s back and pulled so the man’s body rested above the floor. The pillows disappeared. 

 

What followed was not the kind of sex that was for tender lovers. That wasn’t what they wanted, it wasn’t what they needed, even in their dreams. One hand on the rope holding him up, the other hand gripped the man’s hips so tightly they would have left bruises, had this not been a dream. Time lost all meaning, not that it mattered in a dream, and Jet felt as if things were loosening in his chest. As if things had begun to heal already and the scabs had just been picked off. 

 

Just as Jet had begun to let go, his pleasure began mounting and he felt himself begin to remember more about the man below him. Flashes of other dreams, flashes of a man who looked just like him in an elevator, flashes of his Nathair standing up to him, calling him out on his shit. 

 

Pleasure exploded across his senses and Gibbs came awake with a start, “shit, Probie, if I’d known you were gonna be having wet dreams every night I’da said to soundproof the house first. Glad I’ve been sleeping in the hammock. You keep giving me ideas.”

 

Gibbs smiled at the gruff voice of his ex-boss. He laid back and rested his hands beneath his head and stared up at the ceiling as he thought of his dreams. He had been remembering more and more about Nathair. Through Nathair he had remembered Ziva, Kate, McGee. It was weird, it was after each dream with Nathair that he remembered something else about the life he had left behind and he kept thinking about why he’d left as well. 

 

He had already remembered not only Kate’s death, but he had remembered his hunt for Ari. How Ari had infiltrated Autopsy, shot Gerald, how Kate had said he had  _ kind _ eyes. He had remembered Ziva mentioning she had done dossiers on him and the team and wondered if that had been orchestrated, either on Ziva’s part or Ari’s, Gibbs didn’t know. But she had shot and killed her brother for him. She had cried in his arms. He let that thought go for now and turned to the new memories that had begun to crop up.

 

_ “I work with a pair of wankers,” Nathair looked between McGee and Kate. _

 

_ He smiled at the easy opening, “and you make three, Nathair.” _

 

_ “Morning, Boss,” came the expected reply. _

 

_ “Morning,” Kate called out, she sounded miserable.  _

 

_ “Cold or flu?”  _

 

_ “Just plain cold. Don’t worry, I will sneeze into my tissues….unlike some people.” She gave a pointed look to Nathair.  _

 

_ “I have allergies, Kate.” _

 

_ “Never had allergies,” he felt compelled to add, “never had a cold.” _

 

_ “Never had a cold?” Kate sounded incredulous.  _

 

_ “Nope, Never had the fl, either.” _

 

_ “Why do I believe that?” Kate nodded to Nathair.  _

 

_ “If you were a bug, would you attack Gibbs,” Nathair joked.  _

 

_ “I get colds all the time,” Tim lamented.  _

 

_ “Of course you do, probie.”  _

 

_ “This one is just addressed to ‘NCIS Special Agent.’” Gibbs saw McGee hold up an envelope. _

 

_ “I think that’s mine, McGee.” Nathair offered up.  _

 

_ “Huh? How do you know?” Nathair jerked the envelope out of Tim’s hand and flipped over the envelope. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the pair of lips on the envelope and figured it probably was for Nathair and scowled as jealousy flooded him just as his gut rolled in unease.  _

 

_ “I recognize the lips and the scent,” Gibbs tried to ignore the team’s antics after that. Till Nathair had sliced it open and a white powder came billowing out of the envelope once he had blown into it. Time seemed to freeze for a moment before protocol kicked Gibbs into action and he stood on his desk to get everyone’s attention. _

 

_ “We’ve opened a letter with white powder. Use the southeast corridor to the holding room. You all know the drill.” _

 

_ “Nathair,” Kate called out and tossed him a water bottle. He felt a moment of pride as his agents worked together before he looked over at Tim who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He got Tim going and made sure their floor was evacuated. He looked around the empty bullpen and allowed himself a moment of heartbreak. Whatever it was, Nathair had the highest chance of infection.  _

 

_ *** _

_ The orange suits came and Nathair was going to go with Kate. Gibbs felt his heart stop when he heard Nathair admit that he might have inhaled some of the powder. Ducky had told Kate to go and it took a pointed look from him to get to go.  _

 

_ “How long are we going to have to stay in isolation?” Kate grumbled. _

 

_ “At least overnight,” orange suit said. _

 

_ “Do you have double beds?” Gibbs recognized the joke for what it was, “cause I hate it when you get that crease, you know, when you push-” The thin folder in his hands came across the back of Nathair’s head in a familiar slap. “If I get anthrax, how will you feel?”  _

 

_ “Not as bad as you, Nathair,” Nathair looked back at him and smiled gratefully. He had seen the muscles in Nathair’s shoulders relax marginally the moment the folder had connected with the back of his head. Gibbs felt his heart break a little more as Nathair walked out of Autopsy.  _

 

_ *** _

_ He had had enough, he needed to get up there and start his investigation. He and McGee pulled on their hazmat suits and went up to Abby’s lab. He started barking his orders and told Abby to pull up surveillance videos from the squad room. _

 

_ “-everything from 2300 last night, when I left, to until McGee came in this morning.” _

 

_ “You’ve got to get a wife, Gibbs,” Abby said to him. _

 

_ “The last thing I need is another wife.” _

 

_ “Life, You’ve got to get a life.” Abby clarified. He nodded his thanks. He went over to McGee who turned and said that he had found the file.  _

 

_ “Get the investigating agent down here.”  _

 

_ “I- I can’t. It was Pacci.” Another one. Another Agent he couldn’t protect.  _

 

_ “Put it up on the plasma,” it wouldn’t do any good to dwell on that right now, it wouldn’t help Nathair. He read through the report aloud till he remembered the other agent assigned with Pacci. Special Agent Cassie Yates. Abby asked about it. “Four years ago, Cassie was Pacci’s probie.”  _

 

_ Ducky went off to call Cassie in and Tim started complaining that he couldn’t call, they wouldn’t be able to hear him. Gibbs shook him a bit and gave him a hard stare, you’re a smart boy, figure it out. “I’m gonna use the computer.”  _

 

_ Abby called him back to the plasma, “look who else doesn’t have a life. Nathair came back around midnight.”  _

 

_ Gibbs smiled, “He does his best work at night.” It was a long standing joke that Nathair had facilitated.  _

 

_ “So he tells us,” Abby smiled back. _

 

_ *** _

_  
_ _ “There is no antidote,” the biologist said from behind the glass. No, that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He had the security guard in cuffs next to him and held his gun at the damn scientist that had created the damn thing. “I developed as vaccine, not an antidote. It’s of no use once the victim is infected. Hanna misunderstood.” _

 

_ “She understood.” _

 

_ “No, it’s the brain tumor.”  _

 

_ “That’s what’s killing her?” She really wouldn’t face time then.  _

 

_ “It’s inoperable, obviously affecting her mind. Why else would a woman who fought to ban biological weapons use them?” _

 

_ “I don’t know, why is Lowell Pharmaceutical making them?” _

 

_ “We’re not,” oh for crying out loud.  _

 

_ “You didn’t create this beast?” _

 

_ “Yes, but only to develop a defense against it. Antibiotic-resistant diseases are potential terrorist weapons.” _

 

_ “A terrorist isn’t killing my Agent, you are!”  _

 

_ “I understand your anger.” Man this guy was good at talking down volatile people.  _

 

_ “No, you don’t,” too bad Gibbs wasn’t most volatile people. “But if you don’t save him, you will.” _

 

_ “It has a suicide chain that stops it from replicating after 32 hours as a security precaution.” _

 

_ “It dies?” _

 

_ “Yes.”  _ So I can see my Nathair before he dies. 

 

_ “It’s dead now?” _

 

_ “If it’s over 32 hours since the specimen has been infected, all the y.pestis is dead.” Gibbs lowered his gun, “however. The damage will have been done.” _

 

_ “The specimen is going to die?” the gun started to come back up.  _

 

_ “No, no, not necessarily. He has the same chance of survival as those infected in plagues of the past. Probably better since he would be healthy and young.” _

 

_ “What was the survival rate of the past?” He had to repeat his question before he could get an answer. _

 

_ “Fifteen percent.” _

 

_ *** _

_ “He’s dying Ducky,” Kate cried into Ducky’s shoulder. _

 

_ “Ah, the hell he is.” He brushed passed them and stalked into the isolation area. _

 

_ “Whoa, whoa, whoa, who the hell are you?” This Dr. Brad Pitt he had been hearing about stood in his way. _

 

_ “His boss. The bug has a suicide gene.” He growled and made to move around the man.  _

 

_ “It’s dead?” _

 

_ “Been dead for over an hour. He’s no longer infectious.” The doc and nurse left and he bend over and his lips brushed against Nathair’s ear. He inhaled for a moment and let his heart break all over again, Nathair smelled like hospital and sickness.  _

 

_ “Nathair, listen to me. You listening,” he listened to the ragged breathing of the man lying before him.  _

 

_ “I’m list- I’m listening, boss,” he gasped out.  _

 

_ “You will not die, you got that?”  _ I couldn’t handle it if you died _. Something told Gibbs to slap the top of the man’s head. “I said, you will not die.” _

 

_ “I got you, boss.” _

 

_ “Good,” his gut settled down, he smiled and stood back up. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the phone that had been ringing nearly nonstop. A little more reason to live wouldn’t hurt. He put the phone into Nathair’s hand, “It’s your new cell. I’d get the number changed. Women keep calling for, “Spanky.”  _

 

***

Gibbs realized he had been staring at the same water stain on the ceiling for the past hour or so. That restless feeling started creeping back up and he glared out at Mike swinging lazily in his hammock. He got up and got dressed for a day of work and resolved to work on the roof. He had just gotten to the roof and started hammering away when he heard cursing from below. He peeked over the edge of the roof. 

 

“Hey, you say something?”

 

“Four months and you still don’t understand the meaning of the word siesta, Probie?” 

 

Gibbs shook his head and continued hammering away, “roof’s not gonna fix itself, Mike. Tropical storm season’s only a few weeks away.”

 

“You ever stop to think I might like rain?”

 

“Yeah.” Gibbs made his way over to the ladder. “Just maybe not inside your house.” 

 

“Don’t you have a boat to build or something,” Mike stood and pulled a beer from the cooler. He tossed it over to Gibbs who smiled and looked over at his pile of wood.

 

“Yeah, well, the problem with that, Mike, is I’m using all my good lumber to fix your dog rot house.” he took a long swig of his beer.

 

“I got a better idea. Why don’t you use it to build your own… somewhere down there.” he waved further on down the beach. 

 

Gibbs gave a sly look, “Hey, you just say the word, I’ll be gone.”

 

“Oh, don’t tempt me, Jethro. I ain’t nearly drunk enough,” Gibbs smiled and laughed.  _ Yeah, this is a good place to heal and recover my memories in peace.  _ “But until then,”  _ relative peace.  _ “I was thinking your next project would be a nice little hot tub. Say yea big, right over there.” 

 

He looked over the area, “you want teak or redwood?” 

 

“Hola, gentlemen.”

 

“Gentlemen,” Mike asked incredulous. “She can’t be talking to you and me, Gunny.”

 

“You? No. Señor Gibbs, sí.” She smiled prettily at him, “I hope you’re not letting him work you so hard.”

 

“Nah,” he handed his beer to her. 

 

“He’s living here for free. What does he expect?” Mike grumbled. 

 

“Perhaps someday he will tell us.” she giggled at him.

 

“Hey.” Mike forced himself between them. “How much do I owe you?” 

 

She laughed, “25 american. And you have a phone call.”

 

“Okay,” Gibbs moved back and let Mike handle things until she spoke her next bit. 

 

“Uh, not you. Leroy Jethro.” She pressed buttons and held out the phone. 

 

“Who is it?”  _ Is it him? Is it Nathair? Has he found me? _

 

“A woman.”  _ Damn. _ “and she sounded muy upset.”

 

Mike laughed, “it’s probably that lady director of yours, about to have a nervous breakdown.”

 

_ I highly doubt it, Mike. _ “Yeah, Gibbs.”

 

“Hola,” he recognized the voice immediately. Ziva. “Uh, how’s mexico?” 

 

“Ziva. How’d you get this number?”  _ Abby, probably Abby. _

 

“From Abby?”  _ Yep, I’m getting it back. _ “And if it helps, I forced it out of her.”

 

“No, it doesn’t. What’s wrong?” 

 

“Why does something always have to be wrong? Can’t I just speak with an old friend? Do a little catching up?”

 

“Today, Ziva,”  _ I’m still healing. It’s too soon for me to even think about maybe going back.  _

 

“Okay, I may be in a little bit of trouble.”

 

Gibbs leaned back against the house, “yeah?”  _ Kind of figured that. _ “Define, ‘little’.”

 

“I am currently on the run from the FBI, NCIS, Mossad, and my father.”

 

“Jeez, what’d you do?” The words out of his mouth almost before he could stop them. 

 

“I did nothing, Gibbs. I swear I did nothing.”

 

“Where’s DiNozzo?”  _ Damnit, I left Tony in charge, didn’t I train him to handle shit like this? _

 

“He can’t help me.” 

 

“Well, you should talk to Jenny. Jenny can help you,” if Tony can’t help you, Jenny can. 

 

“I can’t-”

 

“Ziva, look, I’m retired. I’m 3,000 miles away. What do you think I can do that they can’t do?”

 

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Gibbs sighed,  _ damn hero worship _ . “I was hoping maybe, save me.” 

  
Gibbs ran a hand over his face, what was he supposed to do with that? He hung up the phone and made arrangements to catch the redeye flight up to DC. Back to civilization. All he could think to himself was,  _ too soon. It’s too soon. He’s still angry. _ Who? Who’s still angry? Questions and feelings swirled through his head the whole flight and prevented him from getting any sleep that night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tally of who knows what:
> 
> Ducky: knows Tony is magical and suspects that he was involved in the Battle of Hogwarts; suspects that before the explosion, Jethro had feelings for Tony; 
> 
> Abby: knows about Teddy; suspects Tony is in love with Gibbs; knows Tony plays the piano; 
> 
> Ziva: knows Tony is in love with Gibbs; suspects about Teddy; knows Tony plays the piano; 
> 
> McGee: suspects about Teddy; 
> 
> Palmer: Knows Tony is Harry; Knows Tony and Gibbs were in love with each other pre-explosion; knows Tony plays the piano; 
> 
> Gibbs: With his brain going to mush I'm not even going to attempt to tell you what he knows yet.
> 
> **if i forgot anything, I'm sorry, just let me know and i'll fix the tally.**
> 
> I am aware of the Timeline issue where Jimmy is talking about Tony being at Baltimore in 2003. Canonically I know that Tony came to NCIS in 2001 and I have fixed it my copy, I just don't want to change out the chapter till I do a bigger overhaul.


	10. Shalom

Tim was having a great day. Tony was due to come back and all the paperwork for the last two weeks had been done, by him. He didn’t know what was up with her, but ever since Tony took to Gibbs’ desk, Ziva had been acting out. Tim tried to run interference, like he had seen Tony do for him millions of times, but he didn’t think he was doing a very good job of it. It had just made Tony retreat from them all. Towards this mystery girlfriend. 

 

“Is he here yet, is he here yet?” Abby bounced all over him. He was playing the game Tony had installed on the computer, it was surprisingly fun. He had already beaten Tony’s score and was working on beating his own score. 

 

  
“Abby, do you think I’d be playing this game if he was?” He glanced wearily at the box of powdered doughnuts in her arms. She grunted and leaned against his desk, “I’ll call you as soon as he gets here, okay? I promise.”

 

“What if his plane was delayed? Or worse. What if he missed his connecting flight?” 

 

“Well, then, he will be here tomorrow.” He tried to comfort her, despite knowing it was a useless battle.

 

“Not good enough, McGee. A team needs a leader. He’s our glue. He’s our-our spine. Without him, we’re like phylum Cnidaria.”

 

“Jellyfish,” Tim paused his game to think about that one for a second. 

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Are you saying I’m spineless?” Abby paused for a moment at his question.

 

“Of course not, Timmy.” she then booted him in his rolling chair out from behind his desk. “I’m going to check his flight.”

 

McGee cringed, “Abby, you’re getting powder all over my keyboard.”

 

She swatted his hands away, “what’s your point?”

 

“My point is, Abby, uh, you’re really, really, overdoing the sugar thing again.”

 

“Well, I’m eating for two,” concern flashed across Tim’s face. He placed a hand on her arm till she explained. “Relax. I was referring to the health food freak over there. Every time I walk past her desk, I have this irresistible urge to shove a cheeseburger down her throat.” 

 

“I think she’s kinda hot,” Tim leaned back and glanced over at her, wondering if she would say something.

 

“Oh, you think she’s hot,” Abby asked snottily.

 

“Yeah, you know, for a probie.” that was another reason why life had turned pretty good. Since Gibbs left, he was now supposed to be SFA. After Tony had taken over Team Lead’s desk, Ziva had stopped doing her share of the work they had once divided. So, he picked up the slack and had tried to emulate Tony, the easy confidence, the peacekeeping. Having Agent Lee as his probie was a great confidence booster. 

 

“You two do realize I can hear you, right?”

 

Abby stood up with her hands resting in front of her stomach, “We do now, very Special Agent Lee.” The computer beeped and distracted Abby once more. “His flight landed on time. Where is he?” Just then the elevator dinged and Abby looked to the elevator expectantly. “Oh, Yay! You’re home!” Abby bounced and ran over to her Tony. 

 

Tim smiled at Tony as the man struggled with his armful of Abby, he tried for nonchalance as he closed out the game on his computer. He stood tall next to his desk so Tony wouldn’t suspect that he had been playing the game again.

 

“McGee. Look at you. All grown up, so what’d I miss in the last two weeks?” 

 

“Well, nothing I couldn’t handle, boss,” McGee smiled.

 

“Good. Gather ‘round people,” Tony motioned for his team to gather around his desk and the bag that currently resided on it. “I come bearing gifts.” Tony reached into the bag and pulled out a small square box that was carefully wrapped. “For the lovely lady.” He handed the first box to Abby and she bounced around for a few minutes. Tony smiled and when she looked back at him, he shot her a look and she carefully put the box inside her shirt. 

 

“For my senior field agent,” Tony pulled out another carefully wrapped box. Tim smiled and wondered what Tony could have gotten him. Tim’s hands felt warm as he held the present in his hands. He looked down curiously at it and quickly unwrapped it. It was a leather bound journal. Tim opened it up and saw on the first page a quote. 

 

_ “We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” _ ~ The Doctor.

 

Tim was stunned. The meaning of this journal and that quote couldn’t possibly mean what Tim thought it meant. He was so stunned he didn’t see Tony give Lee a box that held a book on german law and didn’t even register that Lee was expressing concerns about Ziva. No, Tim was focused solely on the journal before him. The journal itself could be written off as a coping tool commonly used by those in the law enforcement field. A journal to write down inner thoughts or notes about a case. Such journals were normally kept in very secure places and were rarely seen by anyone but the owner. But then there was the quote. It talked about stories.  _ Could Tony know about my story writing? Does he know I’m writing about us? Oh God, he’s gonna kill me if he ever finds out. _

 

“See, there’s a couple things you need to know about Ziva. One is-

 

“Don’t make her angry,” Lee nodded as if many people had warned her of such activity. 

 

“Right, that’s one. The other is, she can take care of herself,” Tony relaxed back in his chair. Tim watched his superior. He had learned to watch bodily behavior from working with Gibbs and Tony for so many years, he wasn’t the best at it, but he did notice things. Things like the tension in Tony’s shoulders. The set of his jaw. Tony was worried about Ziva too. Tim picked up his phone and began calling Ziva’s phone. He called her and left messages, but it wasn’t until Tony was resting on the filing cabinet behind him that Tim felt the worry spread in his gut like acid. 

 

“Okay, now I’m starting to worry.” 

 

“Think she’s alright,” Tim kept his voice even. 

 

“Well, if she was alright, she’d be  _ here _ , McGee,” in that moment Tony sounded so much like Gibbs it was as if the man were standing behind him and not Tony. “So, what are we going to do now?”

 

“We’re gonna find her,” Tim stiffened at the voice of the Director behind him

 

“I’m working on it, Director,” Tony growled.

 

“Metro Police just found her car on a sidewalk in Georgetown.”

 

“Actually, that’s not that unusual when Ziva’s driving,” Tim spoke up.

 

“Yeah, I drove all the way through Eastern Europe with her, I should know, McGee. But in my experience, the FBI doesn’t usually concern themselves with traffic accidents.” Tim glanced in the direction of the pinging elevator to see the gathering of FBI agents. He saw a familiar face among the crowd.

 

“Tony, isn’t that the guy that tried to put you away for murder?” 

 

“Yes, it is, and thank you for bringing up a painful memory, McGee.” Tony hissed in a whisper. Tim swore he heard a snake for a moment, but pushed it out of his mind as Tony continued. “You knew they were coming, Director?”

 

“Calm down, Tony,” by now Tim recognized the Director’s ‘pacify’ face and tone, “I only just got the call two minutes ago.”

 

“What do they want with Ziva?”

 

“We’re about to find out,” the Director turned and greeted the Feebs before Tony and Sacks were led up to the Director’s office. Tim sat back down in his chair and tried to ignore the unease that settled in his gut.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony stalked from the director’s office, his anger, which had been at a simmer since Jeanne had come in to his life, awakened to a full rolling boil. “Very professional,” Tony bit out.

 

“You Director kicked us both out, DiNozzo.” Slacks said as they walked together, it wasn’t the man’s name, but it gave Tony a sort of visceral satisfaction to call him that, even in his own head. 

 

“Only because you couldn’t keep your soup cooler shut,” Tony had felt Slack was a little too eager to arrest first and ask questions later, let the courts sort it all out. 

 

“Well, your Mossad liaison officer killed two FBI agents today. Sorry if that pisses me off.” Slacks turned to face Tony and Tony made a point to make eye contact, adding a little power to his words. 

 

“Where’s your proof?” 

 

“Proof? Car abandoned at the crime scene, the Syrian was on their most wanted list, she’s disappeared, and oh, yeah, her brother was a Hamas terrorist,” he nodded seriously, as if all that mattered was her presence where a bomb had gone off. 

 

“Where I come from, that’s called circumstantial.” Before Tony could continue and offer the idea that she could have witnessed the bombing and was following an urgent lead or something, Slacks decided to run his mouth.

 

“Really? Where’s that, Narnia?” Tony kept his face carefully blank so as to not show his anger, “It’s a fantasy movie. The Chronicles of Narnia-”

 

“I know what it is!”  _ I’m a mother fucking wizard for crissake! First fucking thing I did was make sure I knew  _ all _ the fantasy movie references. _ “Okay story, excellent special effects.”

 

“They were definitely kicking,”  _ okay, now he’s easing up, maybe I can get him to listen.  _

 

“That’s not the point. It wasn’t too long ago that you were convinced I killed a woman and chopped off her legs,” Tony walked down the stairs and tried to see if he could salvage the situation.

 

“I’m still not convinced you didn’t,”  _ ouch. _

 

“Exactly,”  _ dumbass _ .

 

“So Ziva David is being framed. By who?”  _ now we’re catching on, dummy. _

 

“Well, that’s what I intend to find out.” 

 

Slacks scoffed at him, “good luck with that.” 

 

He started to walk away when Jenny came out of her office and called them both back up the stairs. “Director, will you please tell Agent Slacks-”

 

“Sacks. It’s Sacks.” 

 

“Will you please tell Agent Slacks that we’re going to be handling this one in-house?”

 

“I just assured your director that the FBI will be getting NCIS’ complete cooperation in this matter.” Tony grit his teeth at the Director’s words. 

 

Slacks looked shocked for a second before the look turned smug, “thank you, ma’am.”

 

“If Ziva attempts to contact you or anyone on your team, I want you to notify both myself and Agent Sacks immediately.”  _ Well that’s not going to happen.  _

 

Tony clenched his jaw, “Director, may I speak with you in your office for a moment?”

 

“Excuse us, Agent Sacks,” Jenny nodded towards Agent Slacks and they headed into her office. 

 

“Permission to speak freely? Director,” Tony glared over at her. 

 

She nodded and put on a patient look.

 

“Just curious, so all the times you’ve been undercover or worked a case, you never messed up? You never had to have Gibbs ‘bail’ you out? What, now that you’re Director, you’re above looking out for your  _ team. _ Or did those months of working with Ziva in Europe mean nothing to you Director?”

 

“You’re out of line, DiNozzo,” Jenny leaped to her feet and her eyes flashed angrily at him.

 

“So are you,” he roared back at her. “You know Ziva didn’t do this, I know Ziva didn’t do this. Which leaves that she was framed, now you’ve let the FBI take the case and tied my hands.” Tony sent a mild flare of magic that would kill most small electronics, including phones. He smirked as he thought of the now useless cell phone in the Director’s purse. “And just so we’re clear, Director, I  _ will  _ be investigating this from the angle that someone is framing Ziva.” 

 

With that he stalked out of her office in a rather Gibbs’ like fashion, but Jimmy’s words rang through his head.  _ Don’t worry about people comparing you to Gibbs, you’ve worked with him the longest, besides Doctor Mallard. There’s bound to be similarities. _ Tony grabbed Tim from the Bullpen and headed down to Abby’s labby.

 

“Alright, I’ll call you back at this number,” Abby was on the phone and hunched over the paper she was writing on. 

 

“Abby,” Tony called out. She quickly hung up the phone and stood before him. She was a bundle of nervous energy, however that could be because of all the candy and sugar she had been consuming since Agent Lee had joined up. “Who was that?”

 

“Where?” Tony raised his eyebrow, something was hinky. 

 

“On the phone?”

 

“Oh, um, uh, that- it was the nuns,” Tony didn’t buy it, not only was it the off season, but there were no practices this week due to Sister Rosita’s nephew being in the hospital. 

 

“The nuns?” Tim asked.

 

“Yep,” Abby nodded, “you know nuns with the big white hats and the-”

 

“Habits. Yeah, they’re called habits,” Tim added. Tony closed his eyes and tried to just let the whole thing go. 

 

“Yep, yep, they called to say that bowling practice was cancelled.”

 

“Bowling nuns?” Tim gave her an odd look. Tony gave Tim an odd look, he was the one that had dated the woman for crissake. 

 

“Eez, McGee, what, are you on some sort anti-nun crusade here?” This is where Abby normally got away with her lies, turn it around on the questioner. Coincidentally it usually gave away more information than Abby intended, usually. 

 

“What? Wait, no-”

 

“Okay, all right, lay off the nuns. I need to contact Gibbs. If we’re going to get Ziva out of this, I’m going to need his advice,” Tony kept the bitterness out of his voice, but he knew that GIbbs had had experience with this sort of thing before. 

 

“Well, last I heard he was still in Mexico.” Abby shrugged, as if that weren’t obvious. 

 

“Well, there’s got to be a way of calling him or something, I don’t need him to come all the way back up to el Norte, I just want a way to ask him questions if I need it,” Abby gave him a look saying that Gibbs was totally coming back for this. There’s no way the man would stay away. Tony winced at the thought, it was too soon. 

 

Too soon.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Two days. The FBI had been here two days now and Ziva still hadn’t called him or anyone else on the team. Granted, since things had started yesterday morning, it had seemed like a lot longer. He walked up to Lee and McGee talking outside the bullpen where the Feebs were working. He was proud to hear McGee defending his teammate. 

 

“What did you say, Probie?”

 

“Oh, come on, McGee. You think we don’t spy on our allies, too? It happens all the time.” Tony walked right up behind her. 

 

“Agent Lee.”

 

“Sir?” She whipped around and stared up at him in shock.  _ We can’t think like that. We have to trust our team. _

 

“Shut up and keep an eye on the feds.” Tony didn’t have time to deal with Lee and her trust issues, at least not right now. “McGee, you’re with me. We got places to be.”

 

“Should be done here, DiNozzo, in another...oh, five, six, hours.” Tony ignored Slacks’ biting barbs and knew that Slacks was smirking as they walked away.

 

He dragged, Abby, Palmer, Ducky, and McGee all down to Autopsy and had Ducky push the biohazard warning button. Tony shook off the reminder of Ari and got everyone down to business. 

 

“First off, this is a strictly voluntary thing. Ziva’s a fugitive. Anyone caught helping or assisting her in any way will be in serious trouble. Palmer?” Tony fought back the smile at Jimmy’s raised hand. 

 

“Um, by serious, uh, you mean, we could, like, get fired?”

 

“He means, Mr. Palmer, instead of attending medical school next month, you’ll most likely be in prison.” Leave it to Ducky to not sugar coat things. 

 

“Oh.”  _ Yeah, oh.  _

 

Suddenly Abby’s hand slammed down on the table. “I’m in.”

 

“Danger, intrigue, a damsel in distress. I’m actually looking forward to it.” Tony smiled at the old wizard indulgently. 

 

“Me too,” McGee stared down at their hands fiercely. 

 

Palmer stood up a little straighter, “um, I’m not exactly the type that would do well in prison, guys.”

 

“No one’s going to think any less of you if you want out, Palmer.” Tony told him gently.

 

“Really?” Palmer’s foot nudged Tony’s as a signal, Palmer wasn’t serious, just knew Tony needed a little outlet.

 

“Well, no, they probably would. At least I know I would.” Tony’s eyes flickered in minute gratitude. 

 

“Alright, then I want a code name, something cool-sounding.” Then Jimmy put his hand in.

 

“All right.” Tony put his hand on top. “No one can know about this, especially the Director. We all good with that?” He waited for everyone to nod in agreement. “All right then, let’s figure out how to find her. McGee, I want you on her electronic tracks. Cell phone, computer, toaster oven if you have to. Ducky, please talk to your contacts in the FBI. I want to know everything about  that Georgetown crime scene. Palmer, how does “Black Lung” sound?”

 

“Like a horrible and painful way to die.” Jimmy looking at him curiously. 

 

“I mean as your code name,” Tony’s lips twitched. 

 

“Oh, I like it, yeah.” 

 

“Alright, well then you’re in charge of supplies, Black Lung. Which means lunch and at this point, probably dinner. Abs, I need you to go-”

 

“I talked to Ziva yesterday,” Abby blurted out, as if she couldn’t contain it anymore. 

 

“Sister Rosita’s nephew is in the hospital, you told me over pizza last week.” She had the grace to wince. 

 

“Should’ve remembered that. Ziva made me promise not to tell.”

 

“Why would Ziva care we knew you bowl with nuns?” Ducky asked seriously. For a moment Tony wondered if insanity was a common theme in powerful old wizards as Ducky reminded him of another for a moment.  _ Is that what I have to look forward to? Well, at least I’ll be entertained in my old age.  _

 

Tony smiled at Ducky again, “I think she means that Ziva didn’t want us getting in trouble, Ducky.”

 

“It's a bit late for that,” Ducky grumbled. “Where is she?” He gave a pointed look to Tony. Tony gave him a slight nod,  _ yes Ziva still has her ‘gift’ on her. Yes she’s safe for now. _

 

“All I have is this phone number.” She held up a piece of paper and Tony grabbed it and dialed it before he got a good look at the number.

 

After the first ring he knew it was odd, they were taught to answer the phone as quickly as possible, “well, there’s no answer. Abby, are you sure that this-” the phone was picked up. “Ziva.”

 

“Tell Abby I’m going to kill her.”

 

Tony sighed with relief at hearing her voice, confirming that she was indeed okay, “we love you, too.”

 

“I’m hanging up now.”

 

“No, you’re not. You’re gonna tell me what the hell is going on here.” Tony took some breaths to calm down his magic responding to his frustration. Would not be a good thing to have his phone break now. 

 

“Your phone could be tapped, Tony.”  _ Oh, well never mind that thought then. _

 

“Well, then I’ll come to you. I’m also trying to get ahold of Gibbs right now, but I’m not having any luck.”

 

“Gibbs? Why didn’t you say so.” He heard her hand the phone off to someone else. His heart suddenly leaped to pound in his chest. 

 

“DiNozzo, you have ten seconds to tell me why I am not building a teak hot tub in Mexico.” Tony froze, he couldn’t believe it. Here he was for months, torturing himself calling out to Gibbs in his dreams and he comes back for  _ her _ ?! “Nine.” 

 

The call fizzled out against his ear and he smelled smoke. He knew it was rising from the back of his phone and he quickly hurled it across the room as it shattered against the wall, some pieces still smoldering. 

 

“Tony,” Abby called out in shock. Tony breathed deeply for a moment and turned to face his team. He saw Abby had started walking towards him till both Ducky and Palmer had stood in her way. “What was that, Tony? Did your phone just explode?”

 

“No, Abby, his phone did not explode. He threw it against the wall and one of the pieces was smoldering, probably a manufacturing error,” Ducky reasoned logically. 

 

Abby nodded, “yeah, Tony are you okay?” 

 

“I’m-” Tony coughed past the tightness in his throat, “I’m fine, Abs. I gotta go.” 

 

Tony stalked out of Autopsy and made his way to the garage. He leaned up against his car and waited. Sure enough, Palmer came running out a few seconds later. Between Ducky and Palmer, Tony felt well taken care of. They made him talk to them about his issues, especially since he would never seek professional help. After that night in the Bullpen, Palmer had kind of taken over Tony’s care. Tony, for one, was glad of it, less secrets to keep track of. Since he had told Palmer, they had joked about his fame a couple times. How his fame would have hindered or eased a situation or case. 

 

“How you going to play it?” Worried caution shone behind Jimmy’s intelligent eyes. 

 

Tony ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t know.”   
  


“Would you be okay if he was coming back for good?” 

 

He glanced at the oddly worded question, “What makes you think he’s not coming back for good?”

 

Palmer shrugged, “it’s a possibility. But you didn’t answer my question.” Palmer poised his lips at the ready to say it. To say his last name. A name he now didn’t care for at all. He didn’t even allow himself to think of anyone from back then, not even their names. Teddy was the only one. Teddy was his only tie to that world. Palmer knew about Teddy too, he hadn’t met Teddy yet, but he and Abby cooed over pictures he gave them. 

 

Tony gave what Palmer said the thought it was due. He thought about how things might be if Gibbs came back. He barely began to picture it before a warmth pooled in his chest at being in Gibbs’ orbit once more. Tony frowned. He knew what it meant. He didn’t know what it meant for him and Jeanne.  _ How am I going to be able to choose? _

 

Fingers snapped in front of his face, “you have your answer, I can see it in your face. I know that look, Tony. It’s the same look my parents had whenever they looked at each other.” 

 

“You talking about that magic matching, shit again?”

 

Jimmy grinned, “only works if Gibbs is a squib though. Which makes sense if you think about it. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a study on it. It would be really interesting to see the difference of magical levels between-”

 

“Jimmy?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I’ve already heard this before, I just don’t know if I can get my hopes up again.”

 

“Tell you what, give him a coffee and call him boss as a test. See what happens.”

 

Tony thought about it, “Good idea, Autopsy Gremlin.”

 

Palmer grinned at the nickname, he enjoyed it, it made him feel more like the Ducky to his Gibbs. Though, Tony had noticed Ducky seemed a bit more short tempered when the subject of Gibbs was brought up. He had even stopped referring to the man as Jethro, just Gibbs. 

 

Tony smiled at the retreating back of the Autopsy Gremlin. It was nice having someone whom he could share his secrets. Too bad it wasn’t the person he really wanted to tell. He sighed and got into his car. First stop, coffee.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“How many times do I have to tell ya, I don’t believe-”

 

“In coincidences,” Ziva swung around and aimed her gun at Tony. “I know.”

 

“Lucky for you, neither do I.” He carried his two coffees and walked a casual walk that went against everything Tony was feeling right then. “And according to the FBI, I should be the one aiming my weapon at you.”

 

“You were set up. The only Mossad liaison officer in DC-”Gibbs began.

 

“Just happens to be present at a Metsada-style hit?” Tony finished seamlessly. Hope began to bloom, it sounded just like old times. Before that damned bomb. 

 

“Oh, God, I’m an idiot. He led me to the scene. Eschel framed me.” Ziva cursed a bit in Hebrew that Tony didn’t quite catch, but he was starting to feel better. It was like he had his old boss back, like he had Jet back.  _ So what if it was Ziva that brought him back? Who cares? He’s here, he’s back! _

 

“Yeah, but the question is why?”

 

“Thought you might be needing this,” Tony handed the marine his coffee and kept his face neutrally blank despite the hope that bloomed in his eyes. “Here’s a cell phone, boss.”

 

“Do I still look like your boss?” the harshness of the question was like a bucket of ice had been dumped on him. 

 

Tony’s heart fractured a little and the hope vanished from his eyes, to be replaced with anger, “No. You don’t. You’re not my boss anymore, you’re not Ziva’s boss either. Yet, here we all are!” Tony knew he was beginning to rant, but it was too much. Being here in this basement with Gibbs and Ziva looking at him like he was a child throwing a temper tantrum.  _ Oh, you want to see a tantrum, fine. _ “You just can’t seem to stay away, can you? You retired, remember? You left! You left us to pick up the pieces and I can’t. I can’t handle you here while I’m still trying to hold on. I-” Tony stopped himself. He looked up to see Ziva looking at him sympathetically and a little guiltily,  _ good _ . Gibbs just looked thoughtful. Tony’s eyes narrowed on Gibbs. For some inexplicable reason the man met his gaze. “You came back from Mexico, for her. After this, you're going back.” 

 

***

Gibbs felt the power of Tony’s words, he swore he saw the lightning crackle across his former SFA’s eyes. It was a look he had seen before. Except it wasn’t Tony in that memory. He had already remembered that, it was after Kate died. He had been blaming himself for Kate’s death and his Nathair had brought him out of it, for the most part. 

 

_ The doors closed faster than Gibbs had ever seen them close. When he turned his head to glare at Nathair he was shocked. The power in his eyes was back and Nathairs face was contorted with his own rage and grief. _

 

_ “You were not the only one there, I was on that rooftop too. Ari shot at Kate because he knows  _ **_she_ ** _ was the best way to get to  _ **_all_ ** _ of us,” Nathair’s calm voice bellied the rage on his face. “ _ **_You_ ** _ might have been Ari’s target when he shot Kate, but you aren’t the only one left to pick up the pieces. Despite what you and this entire agency thinks,  _ **_you_ ** _ are  _ **_not_ ** _ all-knowing. It is  _ **_not_ ** _ your fault that Kate is dead, Gibbs.” his hand struck the elevator wall, right next to Gibbs’ head. Suddenly Nathair was in his face, too close. “You hear me, boss. It is  _ **_not_ ** _ your fault.” _

 

Gibbs’ mouth was suddenly dry.  _ What is going on? I knew it was too soon to come back.  _ “Well, McGee-”

 

“DiNozzo,” Tony growled at him. It reminded him almost of a wolf attacking, “my name is Tony fucking DiNozzo. You left me in charge, if you wanted to leave McGee in charge, then you should have said so. Instead you got me, Tony DiNozzo, whom apparently no one fucking trusts,” he turned his head and looked pointedly at Ziva. Apparently this had been a point of growing contention, but Gibbs knew he couldn’t help, no matter how much his gut was screaming at him to fix this. 

 

“You don’t trust us!” Ziva shouted back, “you have a child in your life, whom no one knows about-”

 

“Abby and Palmer.”

 

“What?” Ziva looked shocked. 

 

“Abby and Palmer know about the kid, Abby’s even met him. He’s my Godson and I will do anything to protect him. Even lie to a Mossad liaison officer.” Gibbs’ mind seemed to give another ping and another memory of Nathair flashed through his mind. 

 

_ “You know, Gibbs, my own godfather was wrongfully imprisoned. He was imprisoned for twelve hears in a foreign prison that made alcatraz seem like the ritz, but hey apparently this is my legacy! Sorry, Teddy, looks like you’ll be wrongfully imprisoned too! Hopefully you’ll see graduation before then, so good luck.”  _

 

_ The back of Nathair’s head hit the wall a second time and Gibbs raised his and and used a finger to beckon his Nathair closer. He would get Nathair out of this, till then he would give Nathair what he needed to make it through this. He seemed to know what Gibbs had wanted to do, and leaned his head against the bars of his cell. The hand came up and connected with the back of his SFA’s head. He leaned back from the cell wall and rubbed at his neck, well below where he was slapped. “Thank you, boss.” The relief in his Nathair’s eyes was worth it.  _

 

“I would not have told my father of your child, Gibbs came back to himself and had no idea what had been said while he had been down memory lane. Ziva looked wounded and Tony looked guarded. 

 

“Like I said, there are no children of  _ mine _ in this world,” with that Tony turned and stalked out of his basement. “So, Gibbs since you  _ are _ here, what do you suggest we do?” 

 

Gibbs turned to face Tony. The man’s body screamed tension and anger, yet his face and body were in a neutral stance. Tony’s voice was hard, almost ‘Gibbs’-like, Ziva rolled her eyes and waved her arm in exasperation.

 

“You see? He’s been completely insufferable since you left.” Ziva looked to Gibbs, hoping that Gibbs would put a stop to it.

 

“That true, DiNozzo,” the words were almost unheard, they were so quiet. 

 

“When I need to be,” Tony kept his glare trained on Ziva as she kept her gaze trained on the floor. 

 

“Good, guess you  _ were _ the right man for the job,” Gibbs gave Tony a cocky smirk, but when the glare turned to him, his gut clenched uncomfortably. He cleared his throat and continued, “our plan is to find this guy before he gets out of the country.”

 

***

Tony nodded and stalked out of the house as fast as he could. Once he was out of the house and in his car he took a moment and leaned his forehead against the steering wheel.  _ Fuck. Gibbs comes back and I just roll over like the well trained dog I am! No, no, I can’t let myself be suckered into old habits. I’ll just do like my original plan, just pretend I’m talking to him on the phone and not in person. That’ll work. Right? _

 

“Not likely, kiddo,” a familiar voice spoke from beside him in the car. Tony jerked back in surprise and looked to his passenger seat to see Tonks of all people sitting beside him.  _ Damn stone. _

 

“Well, that’s what you die with something called the Resurrection Stone on your person, it gets keyed to your magical signature and calls for help when you won’t.” She grinned cheekily at him. 

 

Tony rolled his eyes and put the car in gear and headed back to NCIS. “Now’s not the best time to be talking with ghosts, Tonks.”

 

“Eh,” she shrugged, “not my problem, you’re the one that’s living and has to deal with the living.”

 

Tony fought the urge to roll his eyes again, “is there a point to your visit, other than to annoy me?”

 

“You’re the one with the existential crisis going on, your twue wove has come back, but you’re falling in love with another. By the way we’ve been talking about the whole situation with Jeanne and it’s pretty fucked up, Harry.” Tonk’s started rambling in her scolding. 

 

“Agreed, but she’s fun and she distracts me from missing Jet-,” Tony cleared his throat, “Gibbs. From missing Gibbs.”

 

“Yeah, but he’s here now. You’re taking all your anger out on him and it’s not fair, it’s not his fault he got blown up. Let it go and help him remember you and those dreams of yours,” Tonks gave him a suggestive leer and Tony groaned.

 

“Not gonna happen. Wait, you guys can peek in on my dreams?” Tony felt himself redden. Tonks grinned lecherously. 

 

“Oh, yes, Kate, Shannon, and I are your most avid fans, Harry.”

 

Tony’s hand jerked and he nearly crashed at Tonk’s words.  _ Shannon? _ “Shannon? As in Shannon Gibbs?”

 

Tonks’ eyes went wide, “oops, not supposed to mention her. Shit. Forget I said that. Anyway,” she drew out the word, “so you and your love life are a wreck.”

 

“Don’t you guys have anything better to do than to talk about my love life?”

 

“Not really, Remmy and I look in on Teddy and Andy every now and then, but you are the one in need of help and because you have the Stone, we  _ can _ come talk to you. We can’t talk to Teddy.”

 

Tony winced at his callousness. “Sorry, Tonks.”

 

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo. You’re in love and the one you love was basically taken away from you. You’re allowed a little callousness. So how you gonna get him back?”

 

“Not gonna,” Tony sighed and leaned back in his seat. 

 

“Why the hell not?”

 

“Can’t tell someone they love you, he’s gotta figure that out on his own,” Tony wanted nothing more than to lie down and cry at that statement, but he couldn’t. He had a job to do.

 

“True, but he needs help.  _ She _ says that he needs all the help he can get.”

 

Tony had a feeling as to who ‘ _ she _ ’ was, but he had to be sure, “message from Shannon?”

 

Tonks grinned innocently at him, “got to go.” With that her translucent form dissipated. 

 

He drove back to the navy yard on autopilot as he worked  _ that  _ over in his head.  _ Shannon watched our dreams. Shannon Gibbs has been watching our dreams.  _ Tony ran the entire conversation through his head again.  _ Shannon is a fan? _

 

***

Gibbs looked over the dingy safehouse that Ziva had led him to. He didn’t know what to make of Tony’s actions back at his house. He hadn’t known what to make of the house’s state either. When he had arrived he had expected a stack of bills and a layer of dust a mile wide, but he had found neither. Someone had taken care of the bills and someone had cleaned the entire house. Even Kelly’s room had been reverently cleaned of any dust or neglect. It was obvious that someone had been there as recently of at least within the week. It made Gibbs wonder if Nathair had somehow come to clean the house. 

 

“It’s one of our old safehouses.” Ziva’s voice brought him out of his inner musings. “We park on a dirt access road 200 meters behind it and enter from the back.”

 

_ Right, matter at hand, then figure out Nathair. _ “You know he’s not going to be here. It’s the first place Mossad’s going to try to reaquire him.”

 

“Mossad does not know about this particular one. I set this one up for Ari.” Ziva got a sad look in her eye.

 

“How’s Eschel know about it?” Gibbs’ gut lurched at that revelation,  _ what other secrets is Ziva keeping from Mossad? And NCIS? _

 

“When Ari infiltrated NCIS three years ago, Eschel was part of his recovery team.”

 

Gibbs’ jaw clenched at his thoughts,  _ damnit I’m supposed to be retired and healing _ , “An FBI agent was killed then, too. Let’s get this over with. I got a beach in Mexico waiting for me.” He drove his truck up to the house and watched the house while Ziva picked the lock. 

 

The gun felt familiar in his hand and he knew it would be only too easy to fall back into that trap and come back to NCIS. Back to Nathair, whoever and wherever he was, the path to Nathair started at NCIS. Gibbs knew, however, that he wasn’t ready. He quickly blinked the thoughts away and refocused on the task at hand. 

 

“Move and we shoot!” Ziva shouted at the stationary figure in the chair in the middle of the room.

 

They cleared the house and they approached the man, Gibbs had been watching and the man’s chest was not even moving. “He’s dead. Rigor Mortis has already set in.”

 

“How do you know he’s not faking it?” Ziva asked him cautiously. 

 

“Well, shoot him if you don’t believe me.”  _ If you’re not going to believe what I tell you, then why did you call me up here. _ “You’d better hope that’s not Eschel.”  

 

“Why? You want to kill him yourself now?” Ziva bit out, her body poised for action. 

 

“Uh huh,”  _ bastard pulled me back north too soon. _ “But I won’t and neither will you. We capture him alive. We kill him, there’s no way to prove you weren’t involved in the hit.” He inched closer and closer till he could reach out and lift the man’s visor. When he lifted the visor he looked to Ziva expectantly, “he look familiar?”

 

Upon seeing that the man was dead, Ziva relaxed. “He’s not Mossad. Eschel is obviously trying to tie up his loose ends.”

 

“Yeah. Well, that’s what you are. Spread out, start looking around.” Gibbs gestured at the house.

 

“What for exactly?” Ziva asked exasperatedly. 

 

Gibbs rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t have to explain himself to Nathair. “Anything that’ll help us find out where he went.”

 

“Right,” Ziva nodded and made to get to work.

 

After what seemed like forever searching the place, Gibbs came up to Ziva, “There’s nothing here.”

 

“Eschel was always good at covering up his tracks.” Her words struck a chord with Gibbs. A thought, an idea, one that Nathair had had many times.  _ Check the air vents _ . He turned and sure enough there in the vents glinted the lens of a camera. 

 

“What is it?” He just smiled and walked over to the wall and pulled a chair closer. With a practiced ease, he took off the air vent and pulled the camera from its hiding place. He climbed back down and showed Ziva the camera.

 

“He was watching us.”

 

“It could have been left from when Ari was-” Just then their dead guy’s phone started ringing.  _ Guess it’s not a leftover _ . 

 

“Guess he was watching us,” Ziva conceded as she watched Gibbs locate the phone and answer it. 

 

“What?” 

 

“I heard you retired.”  _ This guy sounds like some kind of frat boy _ . Gibbs smiled. 

 

“Yeah? I heard you were dead.” He paced the length of the house as he glanced out the windows.

 

“To the Mossad, I am.”

 

“We know you’re alive now. I plan on fixing that.” Ziva’s face scrunched up in thought.

 

“Poor Director David. First, his son’s a traitor and now his daughter. By this time tomorrow, he’ll be working on a kibbutz. Unless, of course, he kills himself first. Is it true? Did you kill Ari Haswari?”

 

Suddenly Ziva took the phone from his hands and shut the phone, “he’s delaying us.”

 

“Why?”  _ Unless he called and tipped off the FBI. _

 

“I’m his loose end, remember?” Ziva put the phone in her pocket and began gathering whatever evidence they  _ had _ found. 

 

“He called the FBI.”  _ Why is she gathering things into her pockets? _

 

“That’s not what I’m worried about. When our safe house was compromised in Paris, Eschel blew it up.”  _ Oh, shit. _ Together they quickly moved the body out to his truck and got out of there as quickly as they could.

 

***

Sacks came back from his  _ hot _ tip. Apparently Ziva was suspected to be inside the former Mossad safehouse when it had gotten blown up. Tony pressed for answers, but Slacks just did his  _ ‘not my fault’  _ routine. Tony knew Gibbs and Ziva were safe at Gibbs’ house and he could feel Gibbs approaching NCIS.

 

“We’re still not sure what the hell happened, DiNozzo. Or if she was even in there when the place blew up.” 

 

“Bodies?” Tony asked with a bit of impatience. 

 

“No, it was incinerated. We won’t even be able to process the scene until at least tomorrow.”

 

“What made you think she was there?” Tony’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, _ Eschel had to have been watching them, if that’s the case, then how did he keep them in the safehouse till the explosion? _

 

“A tip.” was all the answer Slacks would give at first. 

 

“From who?” Tony prodded.

 

“Anonymous. My guess is probably somebody inside Mossad trying to make nice.” Slacks looked at Tony with a shrug.

 

“Someone tying up loose ends,” Tony gave him a pointed look, reminding the man of his promise to keep an open mind. 

 

“Well, for all we know, she blew up the place to cover her own tracks.”  _ So much for an open mind, Slacks.  _

 

“Well, she was only looking for the guy who set her up.” Tony openly challenged the agent in the elevator. 

 

“You mind telling me how you know that?” Slacks mouth gaped open in confusion.

 

“‘Cause it’s what I’d do.” Tony held the man’s gaze until the elevator doors slid shut and Tony pulled out his phone to see if Gibbs had called yet. The only reason he knew Gibbs was okay was because of the magic on the wallet, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice to hear from Gibbs that they were okay. He saw Ducky approach out of the corner of his eye. “Not good, Ducky.”

 

“You’re sure that wallet is enchanted to only Gibbs?”

 

“Yes, Ducky, I made it myself. Remember, you even checked it before I gave it to him. He’s fine, he’s just not answering.” Tony grit his teeth in annoyance as they walked to the stairs. 

 

“And the energy of the wallet is okay?” Despite the even tone, Tony could hear the underlying worry.

 

“Yeah he should be sneaking up behind me any minute now,” Tony stood in the alcove beside the stairs, his back to the back elevator. 

 

“Yes, he is rather sneaky. Rather like an old classmate of mine. She was quite the nimble little feline,” if it weren’t for the wink, Tony wouldn’t have connected the dots.  _ Nimble Feline. Classmate.  _ Tony did a bit of mental math and felt the moment his brain shorted out when he made the connection that of course,  _ Ducky had gone to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall looked to be of a similar age to Ducky.  _ Couple all that with the lecherous wink from Ducky.  _ Ducky had sex with McGonagall. Ducky just made a sex joke about McGonagall. Ducky had sex with McGonagall. Ducky just made a sex joke about McGonagall. Ducky had sex with McGonagall. Ducky just made a sex joke about McGonagall.  _

 

“So how are we going to catch our man?”

 

Tony shook himself out of his mental break and stared at the man before him. He felt his jaw clench at the reminder of everyone comparing him to Gibbs and couldn’t help but feel as if Ducky were doing the same just then. “What would Gibbs do, right? I got a bulletin for you, Ducky. I am not Gibbs”

 

“No. You’re not. Gibbs quit. You’re still here.”

 

Tony’s hand flew to his hair, “Why wasn’t I with Ziva, then? I turned over my responsibility over to him without even thinking about it.”

 

“Gibbs is one of the most capable agents-” Tony distantly heard the bell of the elevator ding, but his mouth was already going.

 

“Was, Ducky! You didn’t see him. I mean it didn’t even look like Gibbs. I think he went native down there.”

 

“Uh, Tony-”

 

“His hair is all long and crazy-looking and he’s got this scraggly beard. He looks like a pirate or something.” He could tell Ducky was trying to get him to stop, but his mouth was on a roll and there was no stopping it. Nothing but a Gibbs slap,  _ and those won’t be coming anymore. _ “His eyes were all bloodshot, probably from drinking hooch from morning till night with Franks.”

 

“They call it a red-eye for a reason.”  _ Then again apparently just his voice can get me to shut up. _ Ducky gave him an amused eyebrow raise. A tap on his arm had him turning to face his former boss. “The flight I was on all night to get here.”

 

Tony stared at Gibbs for a moment before he remembered that as a Mundane, Tony should’ve had no way of knowing whether or not Gibbs was alive. Before he could think better of it he wrapped his arms around Gibbs in a relieved hug, “thank, God.” 

 

The feel of Gibbs in his arms was like holding heaven. His heart soared for a moment before he quickly let go and backed away from Gibbs. 

 

“Thank Ziva.” Tony turned his face away. “I’ve already been blown up twice, Tony. Don’t think I’ve got a third in me.” Keys appeared in Gibb’s hand which dangled above his head. “Space 73. Present’s in the back for autopsy and Abby. Don’t be seen. Hey ya, Duck.” 

 

“Welcome home, Jethro.” Tony walked off to do as he was told, but he heard the carefully restrained tension in the old wizard. 

 

“Oh, you got the wrong guy. I’m just visiting. You might want to-” Tony moved out of range to hear Gibbs.  _ So he went from, ‘I’m retired.’ to ‘I’m visiting.’ wonder how long it’ll take before he’s back. _

 

***

He took a drink of what he thought was his coffee. He grimaced at the bitter taste of the marine’s coffee.

 

“We matched the dead guy’s prints. Balash Sassnio. Arrested five years ago for reckless driving. An illegal from Iran.”

 

They switched their coffees as McGee updated them.

 

“Student visa expire last year, boss.”

 

“Good job, McGee.” They said in unison. He glanced at Gibbs in annoyance,  _ thought you weren’t the boss anymore, boss. _

 

“What about the cell phone Eschel called us on, Abs?” Gibbs didn’t even glance away from the screen.

 

“I isolated the grid the call came in form.”

 

“How big of an area, Abs,” Tony called out.

 

“The grid includes the entire city of Woodbridge, Virginia.” Abby sounded disappointed.

 

“Great, we’ve got nothing,” Gibbs bemoaned.

 

“Well, an ex-Mossad officer working with an Iranian student is something, Gibbs.”  _ The geeks have feelings too, Gibbs. _

 

“Not if it doesn’t help us find Eschel in time.” Gibbs made his way to the door.  _ Where the fuck are you going to go that is going to magically lead you to Eschel? _

 

“McGee, the BOLO we put out yesterday.” McGee turned to him with a blank look. “Any hits? You completely forgot about that, didn’t you?”

 

“This one’s on me, boss,” Tim slapped himself upside the head and pulled up their BOLO. “We have multiple hits. Six hits on men fitting his general description. Three in Delaware, one in Pennsylvania, two in Virginia. Closest match- a local cop saw a man fitting his exact profile at a Freemont Inn.”

 

“Where, McGee?” they called out in unison once more. 

 

“Woodbridge, Virginia.”

 

They rode the elevator together and Gibbs was insisting on calling Ziva. “I’m telling you, Gibbs, don’t call her. She won’t wait for us.”

 

“She will if I tell her to.”  _ You know what, fine. If she kills him it’s on you and I’m not going to be able to bail her out. _ “The Freemont Inn in Woodridge. We’ll swing by and pick you up. Ziva, this isn’t a debate. We go in together or we don’t go-” Gibbs pulled the phone away from his ear and looked down at it annoyed. 

 

“Let me guess, she’s going without us?” Tony rolled his eyes in annoyance.

 

“If she kills him, there won’t be any way to prove the Israelis weren’t behind this.” _ To quote yourself, pre-bomb blast. ‘Do ya think?’ _

 

“Yeah, I know. Let’s roll.”

 

“Hey.” Gibbs reached out and grabbed Tony’s shirt sleeve.

 

“Hey! No.” Tony turned and stared Gibbs hard in the eyes, “This is my team now, Gibbs. My rules. And DiNozzo’s rule number one? I don’t sit on the sidelines when my people are in trouble.”  _ So what if I’m taking my frustration at my own actions out on you, but I don’t care.  _ “You got a problem with that? Then let’s remember who’s got the badge and who’s a civilian.”

 

“You done?” 

 

“Yeah.” The slap felt harder than he remembered, and his shoulders relaxed involuntarily. He clenched his jaw to stop the familiar gratitude from spilling out. 

 

“I was going to say, ‘Get McGee. I’ll meet you there.’” Tony had a feeling Gibbs had been about to say something else before he had interrupted with his rant. 

 

Gibbs made to get on the elevator and Tony placed a hand on his shoulder to stop Gibbs from entering the elevator. Tony’s mouth went dry at the familiar warmth beneath his hand. “You know I could arrest you for striking a federal officer.” He knew it wa petty, but he needed some semblance of control.

 

“I know that.” Gibbs voice was even, but there was a sudden curiosity in his eyes. Tony nodded and they switched places. Tony headed down and grabbed McGee as quick as he could. They got to the car in record time and Tony cast a few subtle cushioning charms around McGee as they sped through traffic. 

 

He pulled up next to Gibbs at the Freemont Inn, Gibbs opened the door and Tony began clearing the room. He stopped at the corner and McGee moved passed him. 

 

“Ziva, you okay?”

 

They stood over the two bodies in the room. 

 

“I’m okay, McGee.”

 

“You should have waited.” Gibbs admonished her with a look. Tony got a better look of the woman on the floor. 

 

“Who’s she?”

 

“Iranian Intelligence. They were behind it all.” Tony looked to her worriedly. Ziva looked pretty banged up. 

 

“How do you plan on proving that?” Gibbs asked her point blank.

 

“I have been with NCIS for a year. I’m not just a killer anymore.” She tossed Tony the tape she had been wearing. “I’m an investigator. Now, can I go home?” 

 

***

_ “Two other terrorists were also killed in a standoff with federal authorities in Northern Virginia-” _

 

“Federal authorities,” Tony scoffed. “They mean us. Four stinking letters. N-C-I-S.”

 

“It’s either that story, Tony, or the FBI charges you with interfering in their investigation,” Jenny reminded with a chuckle.

 

“I can live with ‘federal authorities.’” 

 

“Welcome home, Ziva.” Jenny smiled at them warmly.

 

“Well, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Gibbs.” Ziva rose and smiled at Jenny.

 

“And me.” Both women glanced at him.

 

“True, but, uh, mostly Gibbs.”

 

“Speaking of which-” Jenny glanced pointedly at Tony.

 

Tony nodded and pointed to the door, “He’s in the squad room.”

 

Jenny led them down to the squad room and Tony noticed a distinct lack of Gibbs and when he focused on it, he felt the magic of the wallet moving away from NCIS. Tony grit his teeth in anger. 

 

“Where is he, McGee? Abby’s Lab?” Jenny asked his SFA.

 

“Gibbs left, ma’am. Said he had a plane to catch. He wanted me to give this to you.” 

 

Tony’s jaw clenched in anger as he stalked over to his desk.  _ I suppose I can’t be mad at him, I  _ did  _ tell him to leave, after all. A good bye would have been nice.  _ He opened his desk drawer and paused. Resting in the middle of his drawer was an envelop with his name on it. He glanced up to see Jenny regaleing Ziva and Tim with the escapades of her and Gibbs. His mouth was suddenly dry as he picked up the envelope. He opened it up to find a sheet of paper and a slightly smaller, sealed envelope. The paper was addressed to him.

 

_ Tony,  _

_ I don’t know how I expect you to do this, and you have no reason to do me any favors, but I need you to find someone and give them this letter. All I know is his name is Nathair and he worked at NCIS for years. He worked with Kate, he was there when she died. Find him, Tony. Give him the letter in the sealed envelope. Please.  _

 

_ ~Gibbs _

  
Tony sat there, stunned.  _ What? _


	11. Gibbs Returns Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter has been a bitch and a half, so I split it.

Darkness surrounded him, cradled him in it’s comforting bosom. His back arched upwards despite the rope restricting his movement. Hot droplets of molten wax slid across his torso. Tony knew this was a magical dream realm, but there had to be some kind of limit. A thwap to the back of his head refocused him. 

 

“You’re thinking too much, Nathair,” Jet purred in his ear. 

 

“Then come back and make me stop,” the plead left his mouth before he could think better of it.

 

“You get my letter?” 

 

He squirmed in the ropes, his want to tell Jet the truth. That Nathair was Tony, Tony was Nathair. But it wasn’t time.  _ Time? Time for what, for him to find someone new to love and I’m left out in the cold once more.  _

 

“Yes, but I haven’t read it yet, Jet. Just come back,” he pleaded.

 

“I can’t, not yet, read my letter,” Jet’s fingers ghosted across his body, the cooling wax heavy against his skin. 

 

“I need you, Jet. Please, come back.”

 

A tongue ran up the length of his cock and he arched against the ropes once more. 

 

“I will, in time.” Were the last words said before he was engulfed in the wet hot mouth of his Jet. He panted at the sensations that Jet was sending through his body. Teeth slid along his cock and he groaned and arched. Lava poured over his chest and he cried out as he suddenly exploded into Jet’s mouth.

 

He knew he was jabbering gibberish and had no idea what he was saying. It felt as if lightning were arcing across his skin and it wasn’t until Jet hummed around him that he realized that Jet had not only swallowed his cum, but had kept on sucking. He whimpered at the sensations on his oversensitized member. 

 

“Please, Jet, fuck. Please.” He had no idea what he was begging for, but he knew his Jet would know. His Jet would take care of him, give him what he needed. He felt a tongue at his entrance and wailed even louder than before as that tongue breached him. His head thrashed to and fro. His limbs strained against the ropes. It was all on the cusp of being too much. 

 

Then, just as he felt as if he were losing his mind, the tongue departed and was replaced by the blunt head of Jet’s cock. A nose inhaled deeply just below his ear and he groaned as Jet’s member breached him slowly, unrelentingly. Jet pulled back and seated himself fully within his Nathair. He felt the fingers first, then the fingertips rested on his pecs, he could almost see the devious smile. The fingers raked harshly down his chest and he screamed as the wax detached from his skin. His body clenched at the pain and only then did Jet move. It wasn’t a fast pace, but his deep long strokes slid long  _ that  _ spot within and he was screaming in pleasure, Jet’s fingers kept him balanced between pleasure and pain as they twisted harshly at his nipples.

 

“Please, Jet,” again he was begging. Again, he didn’t care what he was saying as long as Jet didn’t stop. 

 

“Nathair, my Nathair,” Jet groaned his release moments before Nathair screamed his own release. 

 

***

His previous trip to El Norte had driven home a few things. One, he needed to take care of his house. Either sell it and move completely down to Mexico, or move back up. He felt he wasn’t ready to come back yet and figured that when he came back, he could just buy a new house. Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. Get away from the memories, start fresh. Nathair deserved that. Two, Tony and Ducky were pissed he had just up and left them, but how could he explain that he needed time to heal. Him, mister ‘second b is for bastard’, invincible Gibbs needed a break. The worst of it was that he didn’t know how long he needed. 

 

He set to work cleaning up the house for it to be sold. Moving old boxes around and emptying most of them into the trash. He was surprised when a Strawberry Shortcake Lunch Box fell out of one of the boxes. Memories of Kelly flashed through his mind and he thought about what  _ she _ would have wanted him to do with her stuff. He smiled softly,  _ “You won’t use it, Daddy. Someone else needs it more than you do.” _ He could almost hear her voice yelling at him. 

 

“The basement needs some work,” the real estate agent could be heard. He sighed,  _ she’s showing the house to someone already? _ “But if it doesn’t shout ‘wine cellar’, I don’t know what does. Have a look and I’ll be right back.”

 

Gibbs looked up to see who was coming to ‘have a look’ He sighed as he saw Fornell come up to the railing, “First my wife, now my house.”

 

“No. No, I learned my lesson. I’m through with your leftovers. You’re going to need a bigger box for that boat.” 

 

“Come all the way out here to give me packing tips, Tobias?” He tossed the empty box onto a nearby surface, he was silently thanking every star in the sky that Tobias had come around  _ after _ his ‘toys’ had been securely packed and stored away. Hidden from the world. 

 

“Actually, I came to tell you Petty Officer Derrick Paulson escaped from prison yesterday.” Gibbs took one look in Tobias’ eyes and knew exactly what he wanted. 

 

“No.” 

 

“I haven’t asked anything yet.” Gibbs didn’t even respond. “You caught him last time. Figured you might like to catch him again.” 

 

“You thought wrong.”

 

“He came to see me, Jethro.”  _ Now we’re getting to why you really want me to catch him. _ “When I was with Emily.”  _ Well, shit. That’s a whole different game.  _

 

“She okay?”

 

“For now. He just wanted to tell me that I got the wrong man, and strongly suggested that I reopen his case to prove it.” He glanced at his old friend. Tobias hadn’t moved, his hands were in his pockets, and he kept looking to the ground, terrified. 

 

“He’s risking a lot for something he knows can’t happen.”

 

“You think? I don’t know what his game is. But I’m not going to get a good night’s sleep until that SOB is back behind bars.”

 

“You don’t need me to find him,”  _ it was too soon. Wasn't’ it? _

 

“Need? A convicted killer was two inches from my daughter! Handing her crayons. He touched her! We’re way beyond need, Jethro.” Tobias’ voice broke at the emotion he kept trying to hold back. He looked into his friend’s eyes and saw the worry and fear of a parent. He knew that worry. He looked to the floor of his basement in shame as he took a breath to gather his thoughts. “Nice tan,” Tobias bit at him as he walked away. 

 

“Wait, let me go se Jenny, see what our options are, see if I can’t get reinstated,” he didn’t look at Tobias’ face as he passed his friend on the stairs. He quickly got into his truck and made for the direction of NCIS. The familiar drive gave him time to think of how he was going to play this.  _ Maybe if I avoid Tony and the team, I can just quickly wrap this up and get out of their hair.  _

 

He arrived sooner than expected, he didn’t remember the drive being that quick. He sighed and got out of his truck. He signed in at the front desk and the funny thing was no one even glanced at him twice. He got this deer-in-the-headlights look from everyone and they quickly averted their gaze when he looked at them. He jogged up the stairs and felt his lips twitch in amusement as he heard familiar voices fill the squad room. 

 

“As team leader, people, I need to be aware of any condition that might affect an agent’s ability to perform his or her duties.” Tony pranced around the circle of desks and something relaxed within him at the sight of his former SFA. 

 

“And what does having embarrassingly white teeth have to do with performing his duties?” Ziva asked with a smirk. He hovered by the door to the stairs and gathered himself together to walk past them without reacting.  _ Stay out of their way. Stay on the sidelines. Maybe they won’t notice me.  _

 

“You said it was not that bad,” McGee mumbled. 

 

“She lied” Tony went in close to McGee and Gibbs saw his chance while DiNozzo was distracted. “Open up your mouth.”

 

“No.” came the mumbled reply.

 

“Let me see the Chiclets.”

 

“No.”

 

“Let me see ‘em.”

 

“No.”

 

“Open your- Gibbs.”  _ Well, so much for not being noticed. _ He kept his gaze focused in front of him as he felt their eyes follow him up to Jenny’s office. 

 

“What is…?” McGee asked them.

 

“I have no idea,” Tony responded,  _ he didn’t sound pissed. That’s a good thing, right? Why? It’s not like I’m staying, after this it’s back to Mexico again.  _

 

He strode past Cynthia, almost feeling sorry for her, “Agent Gibbs! I mean, mister…”

 

He shut the door behind him and stood before her desk. “And just as I was getting used to my door being treated as a door. I’ll call you back, Todd.”  _ Todd, as in my neurologist? Good for you, Jen.  _

 

“I need a temporary reinstatement.” deciding to ignore that piece of information for now, better to get down to business right away and get back to Mexico that much sooner.

 

“I assume you’re here because of ex-Petty Officer Derrick Pauson. I read Agent Fornell’s report. Why the sudden, if temporary, interest in bank robbers?” Jenny looked at him confused. 

 

“If you’ve read Fornell’s report, Jen, then you already know. We’re wasting time.”  _ You just want to show who has the power and I don’t have time for that.  _

 

“It’s not that simple, Jethro. You left. I appreciate what you did for Ziva, but this is not some gym membership that you can turn on and off.”  _ You done waving your dick around, Jen. _

 

“No I can’t; but I’m not director of NCIS.”

 

“And the director of NCIS already filed your retirement package with Navy Human Resources.”

 

_ No you didn’t, you were banking on me coming back at some point to at least bail you out of some mess or another. _ “Un-file it.”

 

“It doesn’t work that way, Jethro.”  _ Guess you’re not done waving that non-existent dick around _ . “I would take weeks to reinstate you. And that’s even  _ if _ you managed to pass your-”

 

“My psych evaluation? Or are you talking about my firearms proficiency exam?”  _ I’m tired of this. _

 

“No. That one I’m not worried about.” 

 

He rolled his eyes,  _ apparently I wasn’t obvious enough that I don’t care whether or not I have her approval. _ He started to head to the door and got as far as his hand on the handle before she called for him to wait. He smirked to the door for a moment before the smirk disappeared and he turned back to face her. 

 

“Let me at least...validate your parking.” He raised an eyebrow and sighed heavily. She opened a desk drawer and theatrically gasped. He rolled his eyes at her antics. “That’s strange. I could’ve sworn I filed this.” He remained silent while she went through her song and dance. “Your retirement package. I must have accidentally put in for your unused leave time instead. Of which, it seems, there are six days left until it has to be filed.” 

 

He finally had the answer he wanted and quickly left the office of his nightmares. He strode down to the squad room and went around the outside to the desk behind Tony’s probie. He ignored Tony’s greeting. 

 

“Hey, Gibbs. Just visiting the neighborhood or...taking your desk back?” He heard the wary helpfulness in DiNozzo’s voice and wondered what that was about. He pushed them out of his mind as he wiped off the whiteboard near the desk. His phone rang and he answered it in the usual way.

 

“You should’ve been here half an hour ago.”

 

“Yeah, I’m just getting Emily settled at my mom’s place.”

 

“Want me to send an agent over?”  _ I’m sure Balboa would have no problem. _

 

“How many can you spare?”

 

“I’ll send Balboa and his team over,” he pinned the cell phone between his shoulder and his ear and signaled the agent over. He wrote down what he wanted Balboa to do and he smiled and nodded his agreement. Gibbs nodded his thanks ignored the rest of the room as Jenny was filling in Tony and the team.  _ Should’ve guessed she would bring them in, fine. _ “Paulson’s prison cell. I want to see what was in it.”

 

“I’ve already had the contents sent over. Maybe your techs can find something mine didn’t.” Fornell responded. “I’m worried.”

 

“She’ll be fine, Tobias. Paulson isn’t after her.”

 

“I ruined his life, Jethro. We don’t know what he’s after.” 

 

He quickly wrapped up the phone call after that and headed down to Abby’s lab to see if she had found anything useful. “Anything good.” 

 

“Yeah. It’s a jailhouse appeal from some escaped convict. The guy really knows his forensics,” He set her Caf-Pow! on her table and smiled at her, wondering how long it would take her. 

 

She gasped and hugged him tightly, “I knew it! I knew it! Won’t need these anymore now that you’re actually here.” She tapped her computers and the pictures of him on her computers disappeared. “I knew you’d come back.” She hugged him tightly again.

 

“I’m not back.”

 

“Of course you’re back, I can feel your badge. That is your badge, right?” she pulled back, suddenly terrified.

 

He reached into his pocket and silently pulled out his badge, giving her a look.

 

“You are back.”

 

He put it back in his pocket, “reinstatement temporary, Abs.” he put the sucker back in her mouth. “Until I can find Paulson.”

 

“We’ll see about that,” she angrily tapped her computers again, “So what can I do for you, temporarily reinstated Agent Gibbs.” 

 

“Process the contents of Paulson’s cell.” He hovered over the back of her chair as she sat back down.

 

“What am I looking for? Oh, right. Anything to help you find him.”

 

“I want to know what he was up to before he escaped. Unless the three of you have any other suggestions.” He looked pointedly at the camera he had heard moving earlier.

 

“We, uh, we were just, uh-” McGee began.

 

“Tony went out for coffee, but we have suggestions, Gibbs,” Ziva continued.  _ Out for coffee? He had one in his hand when I walked through earlier.  _ “Prison records show that only one person ever came to visit Paulson in jail.”

 

“Mickey Stokes, 72. Former Navy sailor.” McGee spouted off quickly.

 

“And since Paulson has no family, we should assume that he’ll try to contact Mickey.” 

 

“And we already have an address,” McGee smiled proudly. He just knew that McGee was smiling, proud at himself. 

 

“Ziva, text Tony and tell him to meet us at the address. McGee, stay here and help Abby process Paulson’s belongings, then gargle this.” He shook the Caf-Pow! “Before the rest of us go snow-blind.” 

 

He let Ziva drive over to Mickey Stokes’ place, keeping to himself the entire way over. They arrived and Tony pulled up behind them. He raised an eyebrow in question at the lack of coffee in Tony’s hand. Tony shrugged. He gave Gibbs a weary look, as if he were worn out to his bones, as if something had sucked the very life from him. Gibbs would hate to see his Nathair in such a state and seeing Tony like this made his gut squirm uncomfortably. 

 

They walked up to the house and an old man came out, “What took you hotshots so long? He’s been waiting over an hour.” 

 

At the man’s words, they rushed in and cleared the house, even as Mickey shouted, “Hey, shoes off!”

 

The house was clear and Gibbs rounded on Mickey, “Where is he?”

 

“I never said he was here.” Mickey handed Gibbs the phone. 

 

_ Really? Ugh, why couldn’t it have been simple.  _ “Gibbs.”

 

“Didn’t expect to hear your voice. I heard you quit.”

 

“Retired,”  _ no way do I need to explain myself to this bastard. _

 

“At your age, that’s quitting.”

 

_ I don’t have time for this,  _ “Why don’t you turn yourself in, you tell me about this in person.”

 

“Turn myself in for what? I’m an innocent man.”

 

“Try broken record.” Gibbs took a close look at the saw and the mangled cuffs on the coffee table.

 

“So you’re not going to reopen my case?”

 

“We both know what I’ll find if I do, so why don’t you tell me what you really want.” He walked past Tony and caught a whiff of a familiar scent. Coffee and a kind of wood, he couldn’t quite place it just then, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

 

“I already got it, Agent Gibbs.” he went to stand at the door in his wanderings. _Son of a Bitch._ _He took Tony’s car._

 

He heard Tony’s voice behind him, “so what does he really want?”

 

“Your car.”

 

***

Gibbs was back, again.  _ Would he stay this time? Do I want him to stay? I can’t deny that I’ve missed him, it sucks because I don’t want to miss him.  _ Tony had left for coffee, what he really needed was some time to figure things out. He ordered the coffee and sat in his car, just staring at his steering wheel.

 

“Wotcher, Harry. Sorry, Tony.”

 

Tony winced, “Doesn’t it hurt, crossing over like that Tonks?” 

 

“Yeah, but this is important, Harry.” 

 

He took a breath, “What?”

 

“You love him, he needs you, just keep being your helpful self and he’ll come around. He needs you more than he’ll ever admit or know.”

 

“I know,” Tony growled. “Does that mean I can’t be angry at him for leaving me?”

 

“I guess not, but he only left because that’s what he thought would be best. The explosion caused a break, Harry.”

 

“Yeah, I kind of gathered that from him asking me to find Nathair. What do I do, Tonks?”

 

“You could start by reading that letter he wrote for you.” 

 

Tony’s jaw clenched again, “after this case, whether he goes back to Mexico or not, I’ll read the letter. Can’t afford to be emotional, we have a case.”

 

“You’re already emotional.”

 

Tony winced, “I can handle this, I’ll be helpful, I’ll-”

 

“Tony. You know this thing with Jeanne is gonna go up in flames. I mean you’re dating her for an undercover assignment for shit’s sake,” she growled at him, “Jet needs his Nathair, and his Nathair needs Jet.”

 

He winced at the reminder, of all the people in his life who loved him, he couldn’t help but feel as if it were based on something else. He made friends with Ron by being Harry Potter and just sharing a compartment. He and Ron saved Hermione from the troll. There was no denying he got preferential treatment at the Weasley’s so he wasn’t really treated like  _ family. _ Molly yelled at all her sons equally, but she had always spoken to him kindly. Gibbs was alone it semed to have wanted him around for  _ him.  _ Hell, he had chased after the man yelling about his tube socks. That had been all him. 

 

He had thought of  _ Nathair _ as the parts of him that were completely true, no undercover role, no masks, just him.  _ Freak  _ had been what he was called disdainfully by his so called family. Even when Mrs. Figg had babysat him she called him  _ boy _ .  _ Harry  _ first became the freak at school that everyone left alone or was chased off by Dudley. Then  _ Harry  _ became a role he had been thrust into without any warning.  _ Tony _ was just the latest in a long line of masks he had created for survival. Then Gibbs had come along and had made him  _ Nathiar. _ Jet had named  _ him _ with love.

 

His phone rang, “DiNozzo.” 

 

***

Fornell showed up at Mickey’s house for an update. “What would you do if it was your kid in trouble?”

 

“I would’ve told him to give himself up before he got hurt,” Gibbs looked up at Fornell’s arrival. 

 

“I’m glad you ain’t my old man, Fornell. Shoes off!” Mickey ordered.

 

Fornell looked down at his shoes and looked along the wall to see Gibbs, Ziva, and Tony’s shoes all lined up in a row. Fornell looked back at Gibbs incredulously. In reply, Gibbs just wiggled his socked foot. 

 

“And I certainly wouldn’t let him steal my car.” Fornell continued the thought, unable to resist a slight dig, despite the threats from earlier. 

 

“Didn’t, it was DiNozzo’s car.” Fornell shared a look with Tony as he left with a bag of evidence. 

 

“He just wants you to reopen his case! You been reading my letters the past four years? You bozos got the wrong guy.” Mickey looked to Fornell earnestly.

 

“Paulson took advantage of you, Mickey.” Fornell tried to explain. “He only brought you food because you lived near the bank he was casing.”

 

“You wasted your life savings  _ defending _ the wrong guy.”  _ Then again there is something about Mickey that is striking me this time.  _

 

“Hey! Not my computer!” Mickey got up to yell at Ziva as she carried the computer out to the car. “I got an online date tonight.”

 

“Where is he, Mickey?” Mickey just stared at Fornell’s blatent question. 

 

Gibbs rose to the old man’s defense, “he doesn’t know.” He started walking towards the kitchen, knowing Fornell would follow. 

 

“You sure?” Gibbs remained quiet, “Want to hit him with aiding and abetting?” 

 

“Well, he did shelter Paulson and he gave him money.” Gibbs offered facetiously.

 

“I say we use him as bait. Give Mickey a pass, put a man on him in case Paulson comes back?” Fornell and Gibbs both gave Tony a look that said,  _ that was the plan, Dumbass.  _

 

“You’re the boss.” Gibbs told him. 

 

Tony just grinned at Gibbs sarcastically and answered his phone, “Yeah? Where?” There were more instructions that Gibbs couldn’t hear, “Anything in it? DC Metro just found our car half a mile from here. The only thing missing was my laptop.”

 

“And every file we had on Paulson.” Gibbs reminded his former SFA.

 

“I told you, he just- he just wants to work on his case.” Mickey defended.

 

“Except he’s had all his case files since the trial.” Fornell pointed out.

 

Ziva’s face scrunched in thought, “perhaps ours have something his didn’t.”

 

“They do,” was all Gibbs said. 

 

“The addresses of the witnesses who testified against him.” Gibbs could tell that Tony was already beating himself up over it and decided not to push it further. 

 

“He’s not a threat to anyone,” Mickey vehemently defended again. “He’s on the run and unarmed.” 

 

“Do you keep any weapons in the house?” Ziva asked suddenly.  _ Shit, we should’ve thought of that earlier.  _

 

“Oh, great. Now you’re going to pin another crime on him?” Mickey looked to Ziva, probably hoping to get sympathy from the only female in the room, she just looked pointedly back at him. He sighed, “just my old Colt.”

 

“Where is it?” Tony asked immediately. Fornell shared a look with Gibbs. They didn’t bother to follow Mickey to where the man stored his old Colt. They knew the case would be empty. Gibbs sighed, now they had to wait on Abby to confirm and find a few things for them while they were left warning all the witnesses from the Paulson case. 

 

On his way to Abby’s lab, he stopped for the obligatory Caf-Pow! for Abby, but paused outside her lab a moment, “we’re all entitled to our day in court.”

 

“Not according to Agent Gibbs,” he heard another female in Abby’s lab.  _ DiNozzo’s probie, Lee? Wasn’t that her name? _ “I’ve been going over his case files. He seems to prefer a more biblical approach to things. If you ask me, the agency’s better off without him.”  _ Could she be right? Was I wrong about Paulson? If that’s the case, what else have I been wrong about? Maybe I need to come back as a part of my healing? Rule 45 afterall.  _

 

Abby slammed her hands down on one of her metal tables. “I like you, Michelle, so I’m just going to pretend like you didn’t say that. NCIS is lucky to have Gibbs back.”

 

“Except he’s not staying.”  _ Maybe I should? _

 

“You do realize-”

 

“You can kill me without leaving any forensic evidence behind?” That sounded like a regular statement.  _ If I come back, that’ll have to change.  _ “Yeah, you mentioned that.”

 

“Good, then. It’s settled. Gibbs is staying,”  _ maybe.  _ “He has to. Right, Gibbs?”

 

He remained silent in the doorway and let some of his doubts come to the surface for her to see. Her grin fell and his blank face fell back into place. She smashed some buttons on her computers. She turned back and scowled at him. 

 

“What do you got for me, Abby?”

 

“Paulson’s fingerprints on the gun case and on Mickey’s computer.”

 

“And he’s also visited over a dozen People Search sites. I think he was looking for someone,” Lee spoke up eagerly. Gibbs gave her a look. 

 

“Yeah, I got that part.” 

 

“No names yet, but I’m using the FBI’s mainframe to decrypt the search cache.” A screen popped up saying, DECRYPTION COMPLETE. “Oh. You always did have really good timing.” Abby started typing and there was a beep before another screen popped up, this time an older woman.    
  
“Mickey? Where the hell is Mickey, you tramp?” 

 

“Mickey isn’t here.” Abby sounded annoyed, as if this had already happened a few times. Gibbs fought a smile at the humorousness of the situation. “It’s Mickey’s online playmate. She keeps tunneling through my firewall.” 

 

Abby closed out the window and Gibbs immediately recognized the name that Paulson had searched for, “Russell Nash.”

 

“Apparently, he’s-” Lee began.

 

“The only accomplice Paulson didn’t kill.” Gibbs completed.

 

“Yeah, and the one he really should have.” Lee continued, “Nash copped a plea and testified against Paulson. Paulson got life, and Nash walked in 18 months. Skipped out on his parole. Hasn’t been seen since.”

 

“Well, if the money was never found, then maybe Paulson is looking for Nash because he thinks Nash has the money.” Abby theorized.

 

“Or maybe Paulson is looking for something a little more, biblical.” Gibbs and Abby both turned from looking at each other to giving Agent Lee a pointed look. She looked down sheepishly and went back to helping Abby catalogue the evidence. Gibbs shot Abby a small smile and headed up to the Squad Room. He stepped off the elevator to see Tony on his phone by the staircase. 

 

“Taking a little break, DiNozzo?” 

 

“Oh, I think you know exactly what I’m doing,” Tony called back to him cockily.  _ Yeah, except I never had to eavesdrop on you guys to know what you were all talking about. You’re just so predictable, though I will admit it was rather ingenious to use his phone to listen in on Tim and Ziva. “ _ Agent Gibbs.”  _ Ouch. didn’t expect it to hurt as much, Tony not calling me Boss. “ _ Showtime.” 

 

“Wouldn’t let Tony hear you say that.”

 

“Say what, Agent McGee?” Tony confidently strode into the circle of desks and Gibbs found himself admiring the other man. Tony was easy on the eyes, true, but there’s no way the womanizing agent would ever be interested in a grizzled old man. Besides,  _ I’m healing for Nathair _ . 

 

“Yeah, I was just telling McGee the FBI was able to-”

 

“Warn all the witnesses from Paulson’s trial, except for one?”  _ Now you’re just showing off. _

 

Ziva’s eyes narrowed at Tony suspiciously. “Right! The only one they couldn’t find was-”

 

_ I got you one better, DiNozzo.  _ “Russell Nash.” He could tell by the look on Tony’s face that the current team lead hadn’t known who it was the FBI couldn’t get ahold of. 

 

“I have much to learn still, Master.” Despite the teasing grin and the obviousness that Tony was quoting a movie of some sort, Gibbs’ body had other ideas. He was instantly glad he was standing behind the divider and facing it, if the sudden tightness in his pants was any indication. He was also glad of the distraction of DiNozzo’s ‘campfire.’ Ziva rolled her eyes and Tim eagerly rolled his way over to Tony’s desk. It was easy to see that it was a way to focus the group more easily than just shouting across the bullpen. It wasn’t explained, but it was pretty obvious what it was designed for.  _ I prefer people at their desks so that after I get my sit-rep, they can just go straight to work, don’t have to go anywhere.  _

 

“Let’s focus on Russell Nash.” Gibbs walked slowly over to the desk he had commandeered at the beginning of this whole mess. 

 

“The inside man.” Ziva commented. 

 

“Worked for the bank that Paulson knocked over.” McGee continued.

 

“Our only missing witness.” 

 

Gibbs propped his legs up on the desk to disguise the hardness in his pants and focused on his phone as he listened to his team talk. “According to Abby he’s the one Paulson’s after.”

 

“We find Nash-” McGee began.

 

“We find Paulson,” Ziva continued.

 

Tony picked up his recorder, “campfire over.” 

 

He took a minute to think things over, and for his body to get back under control.  _ I’m gonna have to go see Ducky. He’s mad at me too, probably for the same reason as DiNozzo is. Though, DiNozzo has been hiding it pretty well.  _

 

“You’re going to ace your oral exams, Doctor,” he heard Palmer excitedly telling Ducky.

 

“Going back to school?” 

 

“I never stopped,”  _ yep, Ducky’s still upset. _

 

“The doctor’s getting a degree in Forensic Psychology.” Palmer’s excitement was endearing usually, but Gibbs really wasn’t in the mood.

 

“Yes, and with it, I’ll be able to add the Psychological Autopsy to my arsenal. I’ll not only be able to uncover the hows of our patient’s demise, but the whys, as well.” Ducky gave a pointed look at Gibbs that told him the doctor understood about Shannon and Kelly and the need for space. But the man was still upset with Gibbs. “I mean what motivates us can be a very tricky thing. I was wondering when you were going to come down and see me.”

 

Palmer started gathering up the books and quickly made himself scarce. “I’ve been busy.”

 

“Or avoiding me. I wonder why that could be.” Gibbs nearly winced at the amount of sarcasm in that statement. 

 

“I’m not staying,”  _ even if I change my mind, I really don’t need to hear it right now, Duck. _

 

“Oh, I didn’t think you were. I’m aware that when Leroy Jethro Gibbs makes up his mind, his mind’s made up. So, why are you here?”

 

“The Paulson case, how much do you know?” 

 

“Well, I took the liberty of examining the ME’s reports on Paulson’s two murdered accomplices.”

 

“Anything bug you?” He noticed Ducky’s face suddenly harden with suspicion. 

 

“It’s about as watertight a case as I’ve ever seen, pathologically speaking, why? Do you suspect foul play in the foul play?”

 

“No.” 

 

“Yet you’re down here asking me if anything ‘bugs you’ about the case. Are you getting one of those famous gut instincts again?”

 

“I’ve already had that, and it said that Paulson was guilty.” a strange look crossed Ducky’s face. 

 

“And when Leroy Jethro Gibbs makes up his mind, his mind’s made up. Too bad for Petty Officer Paulson. Let’s hope things work out better for you in Mexico.” Ducky looked challengingly into his eyes.  _ Was it my gut at the time, or was it my pig-headedness?  _ The phone rang.

 

“Uh huh.”

 

“No word on the Russell Nash BOLO, but we got something off the tip hotline on Paulson.” 

 

“What?”

 

“Paulson,” McGee switched it over and Gibbs heard Paulson next. 

 

“Hey, Jethro. Hey, you got a tip hotline to find me, but nothing on my original case. Not cool. Gonna have to do something about that. But for now, just calling to say thanks for the car. I left you a token of my appreciation in return. I’m sure you’ll find it soon.” After that the phone clicked dead. 

 

“Called his own tip hotline. I’m starting to like this guy.” He chuckled a little at DiNozzo’s humor. 

 

Ziva continued, “We’re getting an address from the back trace now.”

 

“We got it!” McGee sounded excited at the new lead. “It’s in the city. 4242-”

 

“Adams Boulevard?” 

 

“You been there before, Boss?” Something in his chest eased at the return  _ boss _ . 

 

“Yeah, that’s where Paulson killed his two accomplices.” He led the charge to the building and once they entered the room, he nearly groaned aloud in frustration. Paulson had recreated the crime scene. 

 

“It appears ex-Petty Officer Paulson is attempting to highlight the discrepancies in his crime scene.” Ziva noted. 

 

“Yeah, picked up on that.”

 

“For a guilty man he’s unusually intent on trying to convince us of his innocence.” Ziva continued.

 

“Picked up on that, too.” Fornell commented. 

 

“No one heard the shooting?” Ziva asked.

 

“Well, it’s not exactly a Neighborhood Watch kind of place.” Fornell defended.  _ No excuse, I should have pressed harder. _

 

“And the fact that Paulson’s DNA was found under this victim’s fingernails, but there was no other sign of a struggle?” Ziva wondered aloud.

 

“Mm-hmm. See that about a quarter of the time, Ziva.” He walked out into the hallway and turned back to Tobias. “Why isn’t he running?”

 

“That’s a good question. What’s that gut of yours say?”

 

“Four years ago? That Paulson was guilty.”

 

“Didn’t mean four years go. Shit happens, maybe we were wrong.” Fornell grimaced at the thought. Not a pleasant one, but it did happen, even to the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs. 

 

“Paulson isn’t after Nash for the money from the bank job.”

 

“He’s after Nash because Nash is the one man who can exonerate him. So was your gut wrong four years ago, or is it wrong now?”

 

“Our job is not reopen the Paulson’s case. Just catch him.” Ziva interrupted.

 

“Paulson’s already reopened his case, Ziva.”

 

“Doesn’t matter what our job is, if we want to figure out his next move.” Fornell began.

 

“Now we have to reopen it, too.” Gibbs completed the thought.

 

Fornell glanced back into the room, “smart kid.”

 

Gibbs was decidedly unhappy with this turn of events. There was literally no one left to update them all on the case. He sat and thought for a minute,  _ Mickey Stokes.  _ Whatever involvement Mickey has with this case, he’s the best equipped to catch them all up to speed. It was easy to get Mickey to come along with him, especially after explaining what was going on.

 

“So what changed your mind about my boy? Great Oz finally give you guys a heart?”  _ My heart never went anywhere,  _ I _ left Nathair.  _

 

“Who said I’ve changed my mind?”

 

“Ah, definitely wasn’t a brain.”

 

“If Paulson was framed, we need to find out how.”

 

“Oh, maybe it was a brain. Either way, thank you. I’ve waited a long time for someone to listen.” Gibbs stopped their walk and waited for Abby to meet them at the elevator. 

 

“Don’t thank me just yet. Jury had two weeks, they didn’t buy that Paulson was framed. You have one day to convince our forensic scientist otherwise.” He watched the usual once over that Abby usually got when she was in her full Goth gear. 

 

“You must be Mickey.” She smiled slyly and he could tell that she was pushing the charm. His gut twinged at that. Something was up with Mickey.

 

“Well, I’ll be whoever you want me to be.” Mickey leered at Abby eagerly.

 

Gibbs gave the older man a hard look, “Mickey will do just fine.” 

 

“I like your outfit.” Abby shot him a look as she walked off with Mickey.

 

He shook his head and made his way back to the bullpen. “So,  for the sake of argument, let’s say that Derrick Paulson was framed.” He stood in the shadows as he watched their little ‘campfire.’

 

“That makes Russell Nash your prime suspect.” He saw Jenny on the outskirts of their little circle with her legs propped up on McGee’s desk. It was her subtle way of saying that she was the boss. She was in charge and she held all the cards. They were  _ her  _ people. Something in is chest tightened at the thought. 

 

“Exactly, Director.” Tony turned and faced the corner where Gibbs was hiding, a small smile lit up his face and the tightness in his chest the earlier thought had caused loosened. “Hey, Gibbs.” It wasn’t an outright welcome, but it was gentler than he would have expected from the man who had previously been trying to rip his head off. He wondered at the change, but found himself grateful for it. “Why don’t you come over and join us for a little campfire?”

 

Agent Lee came up with a rolling whiteboard and he shot Tony a tired look. He subtly shook his head and headed out. He was tired and just wanted to sleep, off to Fornell’s it was.

 

“Where’s he going?” Lee asked them.

 

“Basement.” McGee offered. 

 

“Fornell.” Ziva next. 

 

“Bourbon,” Tony looked after Gibbs thoughtfully. 

 

“Not tonight. His real estate agent’s fumigating his house. Apparently, Gibbs got termites.” Jenny informed them. Gibbs scowled at his luck as he stepped onto the elevator. The elevator doors opened up to Tony. Gibbs nearly ran into the other man as he was about to step off the elevator. 

 

“I assume Fornell offered to put your up for the night, but if you don’t feel like sleeping in Emily’s bed, ‘cause you know she’ll insist you take her room while she’s at grandma’s.” Tony gave him a pointed look, “You’re welcome to stay at my place.” 

 

He would have agreed to it, but the underlying pain in Tony’s eyes made him pause. “Thank you, but I’ll head over to Fornell’s, he’s expecting me.” There was a flash of relief and upset at the refusal. 

 

“Just thought I’d offer, Boss, see you tomorrow.” Tony waved as he took off and made his way back up the stairs to the rest of the team. 

 

He got to Fornell’s and the man led him straight to Emily’s room, “I’d offer you the sofa, but when I told Emily you were staying over, she insisted you take her room.” Gibbs smiled at Tony’s accuracy. “Even said you can sleep with her Raspberry Rumtart doll. Gibbs stared at the little girl’s doll and memories of Kelly flashed through his mind. 

 

_ “Let it go, Jet. It’s okay to miss her, but she wouldn’t want you to be debilitated by her,”  _ he swore he heard Nathair in his head.

 

“So, it was four wives,”  _ oh yeah, I never really got to talk with Fornell about all of that before going to Mexico. _ “Unless there’s anything else you want to tell me.” 

 

_ Oh, yeah, like the fact that I’m in love with a male figure from my dreams that I’m positive exists, I just don’t know who he is.  _

 

It wasn’t until Fornell spoke that he realized he had said that out loud. “Fuck, Jethro. That’s- uhm. How do you know he exists?”

 

He froze for a moment as he kept his back to Fornell.  _ Shit. _ “In Mexico, I would get these flashes, memories. They were of him, but for whatever reason I can’t figure out who he really is, I know I know him, but it’s like there’s something stopping me. Like I’m not supposed to know it yet something.” He sat down on the bed, exhausted.

 

Fornell just tossed him a juice box, “I know it’s not our usual stuff. Damn Jethro, first you had a family and now you’re telling me about this guy you have memories of that you’re in love with. I know you like to play things close to the vest, but...Hell I was married to your second wife.”

 

“I tried to warn you.”

 

“I know, I know. I didn’t listen. If I did, I might still have a house with a guest bedroom for you. Don’t take after me now, though. You really love this guy?”

 

He solemnly nodded his head, “but if you had listened to me, you wouldn’t have Emily.”

 

“Yea, and I love her to death. I guess I regret that Diane and I couldn't work things out if nothing else for Emily’s sake. But you love this guy, why not go after any chance of happiness, especially after the death of your family.”

 

He hung his head in his hands, “scared I guess. Don’t want to screw it up. Don’t want him to be ex-wife number four. Don’t think I could take it, Fornell. You know?”

 

Fornell just nodded solemnly. He leaned back and switched gears, “so we screwed up?” The look in his eyes told Gibbs that Fornell that he wasn’t talking about past relationships.

 

“Let’s wait and see what Abby says.”

 

“We screwed up. Big Time. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time, and I know it’s not going to be the last.” Fornell gave him a hard look.

 

“My last,”  _ learn from my mistakes and move on _ . 

 

“Least we can still make it right.”

 

“If Russell Nash did frame Paulson, he’s not going to come clean when Paulson finds him. He’s going to kill Paulson.” Gibbs slowly drank from the juice box. 

 

“I know it. I said we screwed up, didn’t I? It’s funny how things work out. When I was a kid, all I ever thought about was being an FBI agent. Now, now a day goes by I don’t think about being a kid.” They shared a smile. “I don’t pay it much attention. The way i figure it, anyone who doesn’t want to quit this job, isn’t doing it right.” 

 

Gibbs thought long and hard about Fornell’s words, long after the other man had left and gone to bed. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs came in the next morning with his coffee in one hand and Abby’s Caf-Pow! in the other, he walked to Abby’s lab hearing nothing but music and laughter. He stopped just inside the doorway, but apparently was not a safe enough spot as Agent Lee twirled into him and he barely managed to keep ahold of his drinks.

 

Agent Lee stared up at him in shock, “this isn’t what it looks like. Abby, please turn the music off. Now, please, off. I’m so- This is what we were doing, sir: we were working on the Pauls- we were-” She looked back at Abby for help.

 

“We were establishing a baseline of henna ink’s optical reflectivity. You want to know why?” Abby looked to him eagerly.  _ I get the distinct feeling you’re going to tell me, Abs.  _

 

Gibbs let his inner thoughts be seen on his face as he shot Abby a look. 

 

“Glad you asked. We’re trying to figure out if the evidence was planted to frame Paulson.” Abby continued.

 

“Yeah, like the DNA they found. That could easily have come from some, uh, Why is he looking at me like that?”  _ Because there’s something off about you. _

 

“He’s more of a bottom line kind of guy.” Abby explained.

 

“Bottom Line: the more Mickey told us, the guiltier Paulson looked.” Agent Lee started to summarize.

 

“Until we looked at video from the bank job. Paulson was identified by his custom tattoo. One of a kind, unique as a fingerprint and pretty cool.” Abby continued. 

 

“With the corroborating evidence, “Agent Lee started again. “It was more than enough for a jury to convict.”

 

He went over the to the plasma to get a better look at said tattoo and looked at Mickey’s over eager face. There was definitely something up with Mickey Stokes. “You think it’s a copy?”

 

“That’s why we were taking pictures. It looks like a henna tattoo.” Abby speculated.

 

“But if Russell Nash had a copy made to frame Paulson-”

 

“There’d be a color mismatch.”

 

“Can you prove it?” he asked, cause that is what it all boils down to. 

 

“Yeah, but- I’m gonna have to see Paulson’s original tattoo for the test.”

 

“He’ll never go for that,” Mickey lamented. “Not unless he believes you’re serious about reopening his case. And he won’t believe that until you haul in that bastard, Russell Nash.” 

 

“We’re working on it.” Gibbs turned back to the pictures.

 

“We’ve got a lead on that, too.” Lee continued. 

 

“The FBI has been doing background checks on all of Nash’s buddies.” Abby pulled up a driver’s license. 

 

“Meet Gary Silverstin. Russell Nash’s old roommate. He used to work at a tattoo shop. It could be just a coincidence-” He didn’t wait for Lee to finish her statement. He quickly gathered his team and left to find Gary Silverstin. They found him spinning a sign for cell phones and Tony volunteered to go talk to the guy. 

 

He stared after Tony and nearly rolled his eyes at Ziva when she asked idly, “You think you could be happy flipping a sign all day?” 

 

“I don’t know,”  _ I’ve never tried it. _

 

“I think you’d get bored.” He silently begged Tony to talk and walk faster back to the car. “I’m just saying, a man of your drive and ambition needs a certain kind of-”

 

“I’m not staying, Ziva,”  _ even if I am leading towards that route, it wouldn’t be because of you.  _

 

“That obvious?” She looked at him pointedly, he looked back at her. Tony sat down in the back seat and Ziva turned to him. “So, how’d it go?” 

 

“I’ll tell you in 20 seconds.” Tony pulled out his phone and called Abby.

 

“He’s already making a call.” Abby started them off. “Putting it on speaker.”

 

“Hey, you got Nash. Leave me a message after the beep.”

 

“I’d say it went well,” Tony said smugly from the back seat. 

 

“Hey, Nash, it’s Gary S. Now I know you told me to call you here never, man, but there was some feds here and they were asking questions about that tat.”

 

“It’s a Baltimore prefix.” McGee started narrowing down their trace.

 

“At least I think they were feds. I never heard of no N-C-CIS…”

 

“Got it, 82 West Pratt Street, apartment 12.” Abby informed them.

 

“I know it- 40 miles north of here.” Gibbs rushed them there.

 

“Not bad for rush hour,” Ziva commented as they walked up the steps leading to the building. 

 

“Only you could make it 40 miles in 30 minutes, boss,” Gibbs inwardly preened at his time.  _ I still got it. _ “Something’s wrong.”

 

“Maybe Paulson beat us here and found out the hard way that Nash wasn’t willing to change his testimony.” They walked up to the crowd that had gathered in front of the building. Tony quickly led them through the local LEOs and onto the fresh crime scene. Tony expertly kneeled next to their body and compared the photo without disturbing the crime scene. 

 

“It’s Nash.” He informed them. Gibbs lamented that they hadn’t gotten there sooner and quickly took over the case from the local LEOs, DiNozzo doing the details of negotiating, he was good at that. 

 

They got the body back to Ducky and Gibbs felt the overwhelming urge to rub Tony’s shoulders as the man rolled them uncomfortably as Ducky forced Nash to lie flat on the table. Instead he paced and forced such thoughts from his mind as he focused on the case. 

 

“The end is never pleasant. For this young man, doubly so.” He also kept his distance from Ducky and knew that Tony was curious about it. 

 

“At least he had a great view on the way down.” Tony tried to joke. 

 

“I doubt that he would have enjoyed it seeing that his jaw was broken as well as six of his fingers and his knee. And all this before he fell.” Ducky reported. 

 

“Killer beat him first.” Gibbs theorized. 

 

“More like he was interrogated. This damage is too methodical, too calculating to be a simple beating. Whoever did this was after information. And when he got it, he repaid the victim with these.” Ducky held up the bullets he had pulled from the corpse. 

 

“Guess we can rule out suicide.” Tony kept Ducky’s focus on him rather than Gibbs, he had seen the hostile glances Ducky had thrown towards Gibbs. Seemed the old wizard didn’t like being abandoned any more than Tony had. Gibbs took the bullets and held them up to look at them through the light of the room. 

  
“Yes, unless Mr. Nash was able to shoot himself in the back three times in a row.” Ducky grunted as he twisted the man’s knee back into its proper place. Tony winced, remembering some of his injuries through his life. 

 

“Ugh, do we have to do this now?”

 

Abby’s voice was heard from Ducky’s video phone. “The slugs are Winchester hollow points. Winchester hollow points. Hey, Gibbs. Gibbs. Cool, huh? They were fired from the colt that Baltimore PD found near the scene.”

 

“Abs, did you run the serial number?” Gibbs leaned over Ducky’s desk to face the video call.

 

“It’s the same gun that Paulson took from Mickey Stokes’ house. He tried to wipe it, but I found a partial print.” Abby added a little swagger to her report.

 

Ducky’s voice cut in just then, “so the gentleman who asked us to prove his innocence, just killed the one man who could exonerate him.” 

 

“Nash didn’t frame Paulson- they were partners until Nash double crossed him.” DiNozzo summarized and Gibbs sat down heavily and tried to wipe the frustration from his face. 

 

“Our ex-Petty Officer didn’t want to clear himself, he was looking for the money.” Ducky realized.

 

“And he used us to take him straight to the bank. Smart kid.” Abby jumped on the begrudgingly liking Paulson bandwagon. 

 

“But if your gut says Paulson’s innocent, then maybe we’re missing something.” Tony and Ducky shared a look.

 

_ It may not be his gut this time,  _ says Ducky’s raised eyebrow.

  
_ It may not have been his gut last time, _ says Tony’s answering eyebrow.


	12. Gibbs Returns Part 2 (Harry DiNozzo, the Musical)

Previously: 

 

“But if your gut says Paulson’s innocent, then maybe we’re missing something.” Tony and Ducky shared a look.

 

_ It may not be his gut this time,  _ says Ducky’s raised eyebrow.

 

_ It may not have been his gut last time, _ says Tony’s answering eyebrow.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“The only thing I am missing right now is happy hour at Carlos’ Cantina.” with that he left those two to their silent conversations about him. He hit the button 3 first before he slapped the emergency stop.

 

_ It’s all too much. Being around Ducky when he’s angry at me for leaving, but I had to go. Doesn’t he understand that?  _

 

_ Then there’s Tony, first he’s mad that I left, now he’s being this supporting I don’t even know what. Ugh.  _

 

_ The case. Work. figure your own issues out later. Paulson. How the fuck does he know?  _

 

He slapped the emergency stop back off and got the elevator moving to Abby’s lab. He walked in to her on the phone. “I already told you why, Tom.” 

 

“Abby,” he called out to her as soon as the elevator dinged open.

 

“Never mind. False alarm.” She quickly hung up the phone and wrapped him in a one armed hug as her other hand slapped a cuff on his wrist. “Gibbs, oh, my God. I was so sure that you’d be halfway to Mexico by now.” She held up their linked wrists. “Sorry, you’re a flight risk.”

 

“Abby!” He tried to get her attention.

 

“We’re going to figure this case out, Gibbs. We always do!” She led him over to her computers and he sighed as he waited for her to turn back to him. She smiled a little at him, “you already figured it out.” 

 

“No, but you’re going to. I want to know how Paulson knows.”

 

She looked at him confused, “knows what?”

 

“Everything. Everything that we seem to.” She grinned and wrapped her arms around him. 

 

“Gah,” he made a manly sound as his arm bent backwards in her eagerness to hug him. 

 

“You’re staying aren’t you,” Abby grinned against his ear. 

 

His shoulders slumped as he finally admitted defeat, “Yeah, Abs. Guess I just miss the excitement too much. Now get these damn things off me.” He waved her hand dangling from his in front of her face. 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Russell Nash hid the money from the bank job somewhere.” Tony prompted.

 

“Paulson gets to it before us-” McGee began. 

 

“He’s gone for good.” Ziva finished.

 

“So where is it?” Tony queried.

 

“Nash was using an assumed name. All transactions were cash-only.” Ziva thought aloud. 

 

“Money’s not in a bank.” McGee ruled out immediately. “Storage, maybe.”

 

“A third party could be holding it,” Ziva offered. 

 

“We’ll look at properties under an alias. Maybe he hid the money in a mattress somewhere.” he brought the Dictaphone up to his mouth. “Campfire over.” 

 

Ziva rolled her chair back to her desk, “where’s Gibbs?” 

 

“I don’t know,” Tony shook his head in exasperation. 

 

“Anything wrong?”

 

“Uh, well, actually, yeah, there’s quite a lot wrong, Ziva. Aside from McGee’s teeth, we have a dead man who shouldn’t be dead, an innocent man who isn’t really innocent and a trail that’s about to run cold because our perp had managed to stay one step ahead of us since this whole thing started!”

 

Silent like a sneaking Snidget, Gibbs came up and grabbed his Dictaphone, “You’re just noticing that now, DiNozzo?”

 

“Well, no, it’s kind of been a theme,” Gibbs banged the device on the desk a few times before Tony grabbed it out of his hands and stood, forcing Gibbs to stand and look the other man in the eyes. 

 

“What are you thinking,” he let a little bit of his power shine through to get Gibbs to back off. 

 

“I’m thinking Paulson is using your ‘campfires’ to get ahead of us. There’s a bug in that thing.” He pointed aggressively at the electronic device in Tony’s hand. 

 

They take it down to Abby, who expertly takes the device apart without breaking it. “It’s a shortwave RF bug. Paulson probably planted it in your Dictaphone when he stole your car. And I’ve been burning campfires to CD. The Dictaphone has been in my lab pretty much the entire day.”

 

“At least now we know how Paulson tracked down Russell Nash.” Tony commented as he leaned closer to see what Abby was doing. 

 

“There’s the little bugger.” Abby held it aloft in triumph.

 

“Backtrack it, Abs?” Gibbs asked. 

 

“It’s impossible without a private cipher. But, I think I know where we can get one.” She typed on her computer a moment and pulled up a picture of the bug from Paulson’s bank job. “Paulson’s crew bugged the bank’s general manager for two weeks before the robbery- It was a custom job, just like this one. The cops interviewed the bug-maker. Cleared him of any involvement. I would bet a Caf-Pow! that this came from the same guy.”

 

“How can you tell,” Tony asked curiously. 

 

“He signed his name,” Abby grinned back at Tony. He, Ziva, and Tim went and cleared their bug-maker’s office.

 

He was in observation after they had brought in their bug-maker. “And no one had accused you of a crime, either.” He heard Ziva quickly losing her patience for their bug-maker spouting legislature at them. 

 

“Then why’d your goon confiscate my files?”

 

“Goon?!” McGee snorted next to him.

 

“Told you to stop hunching your shoulders,” he said in response to Tim with the phone pinned between his ear and his shoulder.

 

“How do you know he wasn’t talking about you?”

 

“It’s called a mirror, McGee.” He turned his attention back to the phone. “No, I said every exit, not every other exit. - For the same reason you don’t floss every other tooth.”

 

“Where’s that cipher, DiNozzo?” he heard his boss behind him.

 

“We hit a little snafu, boss.”

 

“Federal code also states that not only do I have the right to remain silent, but to withhold any information I see fit.” Springer said from inside the room.

 

“If this keeps up, we may be forced to unleash Agent Lee.” He saw Gibbs’ lips quirk upward at Tony’s joke and he smiled as he watched Gibbs enter the interrogation room. 

 

“Now this should be quick,” McGee hoped.

 

“It better be. We got a fugitive on the run with a pretty big lead.” His head shot up in realization.  _ How did I not see it sooner? _ “The Fugitive- and here all this time, how could I have missed it? It’s that simple.”

 

Ziva entered, “missed what?”

 

“Gibbs is clearly Tommy Lee Jones. Right, I mean there’s no argument there. Which makes me Joey Pants; initially, I was a little-”

 

“What happened?” Ziva whispered to McGee. “We’ve been avoiding the word fugitive for the last two days.”

 

“He made the connection himself,” McGee lamented to her. 

 

“Bottom line, Eyeballs, I run a lawfully licensed spy shop. I’m not responsible for what my clientele does with my product. I don’t have to answer any more of your questions; no matter what you say.” 

 

Gibbs stared at the man silently before he leaned forward over the table, “I got this little girl, who wants to go home to her dad. And that’s not going to happen without your help. So, please.”

 

The phone clattered to the floor as Tony stood in shock and stared down at the phone, still speaking to him.

 

“Did Gibbs just say-” Ziva began.

 

“Please,” McGee finished, bewildered.

 

Tony stalked out of the observation room, not bothering to pick up the phone he had dropped. Once in the hallway he collapsed to the floor,  _ first Ziva calls and he comes running, then Fornell calls and he comes running, now he’s begging random suspects? And where does that leave me? Left alone, again.  _ He hung his head between his knees for a moment before he heard the doors open and Tony sprang to his feet with a jovial smile, mask firmly in place. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Signal’s strong, no movement.” McGee confirmed. 

 

“Got eyes on the target, Ziva?” Gibbs called out.

 

“I did; suspect’s in the house and he’s not alone.”

 

“You sure?” Gibbs double checked. 

 

“I heard Paulson’s voice.” Ziva defended, they approached the house and Gibbs signaled for Tony and Ziva to split off and go around the back. They approached the house with weapons drawn and as they approached, McGee heard what they were saying from the back-traced spyware.

 

“Let me give you some more money, in case you need it.” Stokes was saying to Paulson. 

 

“I won’t.”

 

“In position, boss,” Tony said across their radios. 

 

“Then here, take this.” Stokes handed Paulson what was obviously a gun.

 

“Gun.”

 

“Move, move.” Gibbs gave the order. 

 

“Please, just take it.” They burst inside and Paulson grabbed the gun from Stokes.

 

“Don’t do it, Derrick; we will shoot you.” Tony’s voice remained even as Paulson’s attention went from agent to agent.

 

“Tony, McGee, put your weapons down,” immediately they put their weapons away. “I was wrong. I know you’re innocent, Petty Officer.” Slowly, Gibbs lowered his weapon from being aimed at Paulson. “But you’re not Mickey. DiNozzo.”

 

“You’re under arrest for the murders of Russell Nash,” he calmly walked past the Petty Officer, not even sparing him a second glance. “His two accomplices in the Greater Virginia Bank robbery, and last but not least the Greater Virginia Bank robbery.”

 

“Is your porch light on?” Mickey asked them incredulous, “First, you wrongly accuse Derrick and now me.”

 

“We also found the bug you planted in our forensic tech’s lab.” Tony informed him.

 

“We were almost as surprised as you look now, when the guy you bought it from pointed you out in that photo, instead of Paulson.” For effect, Tony pulled out the photo Ziva was referencing.

 

Stokes shook his head between them all, “this is ridiculous. Do I look like I got five million bucks laying around?!”

 

“If he set me up, where’s the money?” Paulson had long since relaxed himself and was looking to them for answers.

 

“Yeah!” Mickey latched on to that as his defense. “They don’t know what they’re talkin’ about.”

 

“It’s here,” McGee called out. It’s been here the whole time. It’s a Rosewood Bureau Plat desk, 19th century. That’s $38,000. First-Edition Huckleberry Finn, $20,000. And it looks like, in the bedroom here, you’ve got a Chippendale mahogany case clock. That’s six figures, easy. Mickey, you don’t collect this kind of stuff on a Navy pension.”

 

Suddenly Paulson raised his gun back up, this time aimed at Mickey. “Whoa. Whoa. A-agent Gibbs.”

 

“Don’t talk to me, I think he should shoot you.” Gibbs nonchalantly walked up to Paulson. “Except he’s never been a killer. And I don’t think you’re going to start now.” he calmly reached up and disabled the gun, Paulson let out the breath he was holding. 

 

“And miss his trial? Not for the world.” 

 

DiNozzo started to put the cuffs on Mickey, “you’re a real piece of work, Mickey.” He led the man out to the car and made sure he was squared away. 

 

“Antiques Roadshow,” he heard McGee explaining to Ziva. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This time he could see everything, he was lying on some sort of woven hammock of rope, a knot just above his cock provided little relief as he rubbed his strained member against it. His wrists and ankles bound to what looked to be a solid wood bed frame. Fingers ghosted over his back and he groaned at the feather light teasing touch.

 

“You hear the wood creak as you struggle,” he strained his arm in response to Jet’s statement. “Beautiful sound, Nathair. The color of holly certainly goes well with your skin.” Hot breath ghosted across his ear. He shuddered in response, causing his hips to jerk and the knot rubbed against his cock once more. 

 

He groaned at the pressure that pinched his nipples as Jet placed butterfly clamps, the chain connecting his nipples over the rope hammock, so if he pulled too far away from the hammock he would pull on the chain. A hand lovingly ran through his hair before gripping the back of his head firmly and pulling him upright till the rope pulled the chain. He groaned and couldn’t help as his facial muscles twitched into a smile at the sensations across his body just then. The chain pulling his nipples, the knot rubbing against the base of his cock. 

 

“Look at you all strung out, panting for me,” he just grunted in response as Jet let go of his head and he fell back to resting on the hammock of rope. “What do you want, my Nathair.”

 

“You, please, stay here with me, please,” he shamelessly begged. There were no walls here, no lies between them. Just Jet and Nathair and their truth. 

 

“Right now, what do you want?”

 

“Oh, Merlin, your cock, I want your cock, please Boss. Let me warm your cock with my mouth, please, oh please,” he didn’t even care what he was saying, he had long ago given up on holding back of any kind when asked that question by his Boss at least when within this room. 

 

“Well, when you put it like that, who am I to deny my Nathair,” he felt the object of his wanton begging resting against his face and he turned his face to further facilitate what he wanted. Almost instinctively he opened his mouth and hummed contentedly as his mouth was filled with Jet’s warm cock. Calloused hands rested on his head and he relaxed his jaw, the tenseness of the last few days falling away from those muscles. His tongue tasted the familiar flavor that was Jet as the member moved in and out of his waiting mouth. 

 

His hips undulated and the knot rubbed against his own member, though compared to everything else it felt more like a tease by now. He pushed away thoughts of his own release and gave himself over to Jet, trusting that he would be taken care of, like he always was with Jet. Jet seemed to have felt some sort of shift because he suddenly groaned and his hips sped up.

 

“That’s it, let me take care of you, take what I give you. Just accept all of me, swallow it whole,” and he did, when Jet exploded in his mouth his throat worked to automatically swallow as his tongue rubbed at the appendage still resting in his mouth. Hands caressed his hair, but still his mouth remained full. His tongue swirled all around, tasting all that was his Jet. He felt Jet shudder against his head and he nearly whimpered at the sudden emptiness of his mouth if it weren’t for the loving swat on his ass. “That’s my beautiful Nathair.” 

 

Jet’s hands idly ficked at the pinched nipples, he jerked again and whimpered, “Makes me almost glad this is a dream of some sort,” he suddenly moved close and he felt Jet’s lips on his earlobe once again, “means I can leave those on for as long as I want.” Jet stood back up and ran a hand down his back, “means I can do whatever I want to this body and there are no repercussions. The only down side,” his hand came down in a brutal spank and he cried out. “Any marks I make on you will be gone when we wake.”

 

There was a whistle and he felt the thwump of the horse-hair whip. He groaned and arched into the sensation as the horsehair fell across his back again and again.  _ “Yesss, pleasse, fuck me, Jet, pleasse, claim me, mark me as yourss.”  _

 

He felt Jet jerk and groan, “fuck, Nathair,” he heard a clatter and knew that the whip had been discarded and the rope around his ankles pulled so that his legs were bent and suddenly Jet was there and pressing into his body. His head snapped back with his back as he arched his upper body off the rope hammock once more. The chain pulled against the rope and he screamed as his Jet pounded into him. Fingers ghosted across his pecs and he felt lips against his earlobe again. 

 

“Come for me, Nathair,” those fingers removed the nipple clamps as Jet drove himself home and it was all too much, his world exploded and he came awake with a scream as streams of come left Tony’s cock as he woke for work the next day.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You know, you used to be a nice person, McGee. I think sitting at Tony’s desk is affecting your personality.” Ziva said as they got off the elevator. 

 

“For the better. McGee picked up a girl all by himself.” Tony praised his probie.

 

“Yeah, at a funeral,” Ziva scolded. 

 

“You didn’t tell me that,” the only funeral Tony had heard about recently was Abby’s childhood hermit crab. Tony hadn’t been able to go to Yoda’s funeral due to him visiting Teddy over the weekend, so Abby had let him miss it. 

 

“Well, you were right, man, because when women are vulnerable,” McGee shared a look with Tony that said he had gone to the crustacean's funeral. Tony smiled and played along, giving McGee that little confidence boost. “You get right in there-”

 

McGee cut off in surprise as they rounded the divider to their desks. Tony’s mouth went dry as he saw his things dumped onto his old desk, McGee’s stuff dumped onto his old desk, and Gibbs sitting at his desk looking at them expectantly, “What?”

 

Tony spent the day very quietly organizing his desk and ignoring Gibbs’ new furry companion over his lip. He tried not to read too much into it, but as he worked on cold cases quietly he thought to how Franks had looked, the style of clothing and he squirmed uncomfortably at the implications of Gibb’s wardrobe choices.  _ He’s still so lost he’s portraying Mike.  _ Something inside squirmed uncomfortably. 

 

He goes home that night and sets everything in the bowl by his door on autopilot. His soft couch calls to him and he sinks comfortably into the couch. His baby grand piano gleams to the left of the unlit fireplace. His eyes stare at the piano for a long time. He hadn’t originally planned on buying the thing, but he had to admit breaking dishes when you’re angry gets old. 

 

_ Play it, _ a gentle voice cajoled. He couldn’t see the speaker, but that was nothing new to him. His throat clenched at the flood of emotion, his mother rarely visited or spoke to him, but when she did, he listened. He got up and stiffly moved to the piano.

 

He stretched his fingers a moment before his fingers began to lightly strum out a tune. It was a song he had heard a few times on the radio, it seemed to fit his mood. Hell, the song seemed to fit his life. He added his voice, the words flowing freely from his lips.

 

_ I walk a lonely road _

_ The only one that I have ever known _

_ Don't know where it goes _

_ But it's only me, and I walk alone _

 

He’s always been alone really. No one but Gibbs ever bothered to look beneath the surface he portrayed. He thinks back to his school days. Hermione had always looked out for him like he was her kid brother, but he knew that if he pulled ahead of her in grades, she would resent him while being proud. 

 

_ I walk this empty street _

_ On the boulevard of broken dreams _

_ Where the city sleeps _

_ And I'm the only one, and I walk alone _

 

Ron had been resentful of his fame the minute it came up, like in fourth year. Ginny had hero worshiped him even before they had met. The twins were cool and had treated him fairly while looking out for him. Their teasing making him feel like he was one of them. They actually  _ had _ treated him like a little brother. A preferred little brother, but a little brother. 

 

_ I walk alone, I walk alone _

_ I walk alone and I walk a _

_ My shadow's the only one that walks beside me _

_ My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating _

_ Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me _

_ Till then I walk alone _

 

He really was alone. So alone. His heart ached, he hadn’t been alone since Gibbs had found him in Baltimore, at least he hadn’t felt alone, not till the explosion. 

 

_ I'm walking down the line _

_ That divides me somewhere in my mind _

_ On the border line of the edge _

_ And where I walk alone _

 

He knew there was some kind of break and or block on Gibbs’ mind that separated him from Nathair in Gibbs’ mind. He didn’t know if it was a psychological break or a magical one. If it was a magical one, then he’d have to sit down with Gibbs and do some major woodoo on him.

 

_ Read between the lines _

_ What's fucked up and every thing's all right _

_ Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive _

_ And I walk alone _

 

But if he did that and it turned out to be a psychological break, then there was nothing he could do and then he would have done magical woodoo on Gibbs for nothing and he would have to obliviate him. He still wasn’t sure if that caused brain damage or anything.

 

_ I walk alone, I walk alone _

_ I walk alone and I walk a _

_ My shadow's the only one that walks beside me _

_ My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating _

_ Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me _

_ Till then I walk alone _

_ I walk alone, I walk a _

 

He was stuck in an impossible situation, he had to keep himself buried so deep that no one saw through any of his masks. Jeanne couldn’t know why he had been at that bar that night. Gibbs and the team weren’t supposed to know about Jenny’s little op. 

 

_ I walk this empty street _

_ On the boulevard of broken dreams _

_ Where the city sleeps _

_ And I'm the only one, and I walk alone _

_ My shadow's the only one that walks beside me _

_ My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating _

_ Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me _

_ Till then I walk alone _

 

His fingers didn’t stop. His eyes flitted to the letter that he had rested on the piano.  _ Not yet _ . His fingers strummed a song from memory. Sinatra had always seemed to just  _ speak _ to him, it had turned into his go-to to belt out his feelings, chances were that there was a Sinatra song that fit his mood at the time. It helped that he had studied the song books he had bought of Sinatra. He tried really hard not to play when he was angry so he wouldn’t completely destroy his piano.  _ Repairo _ can only go so far after all. 

 

_ Each place I go only the lonely go _

_ Some little small cafe _

_ The songs I know only the lonely know _

_ Each melody recalls a love that used to be _

 

He recalled his previous relationships. He thought of Gibbs, he thought of his budding relationship with Jeanne. He knew that the relationship with Jeanne could only end in tears, but there’s no way for him to complete his mission and not care for the woman. 

 

_ The dreams I dream only the lonely dream _

_ Of lips as warm as May _

_ That hopeless scheme only the lonely scheme _

_ That soon somewhere you'll find the one that used to care _

 

His dreams with Jet were his one solace after Kate died, but now they seemed to be a mocking little snipit of what  _ could _ be versus what actually was. He just felt so lonely, he hadn’t felt so alone in a long time. Even when he had been stuck in the hospital with the plague, he had had Kate in there with him. She hadn’t left his side until Gibbs had come in towards the end.  He remembered trying to sit up to see his boss, just one last time, but he was too weak.

 

_ “His boss. The bug has a suicide gene.”   _ His boss’ voice reaching him, holding him here. 

 

_ “Been dead for over an hour. He’s no longer infectious.”  _ Once again his boss spoke and he had relished in the sound of his boss’ voice. It hadn’t even mattered what he was saying just then, he was just lost in that voice. 

 

_ “Tony, listen to me. You listening,”  _ He was always listening for his boss. Always.

 

_ “I’m list- I’m listening, boss,”  _ he had gasped out. 

 

_ “You will not die, you got that?”  _ Again he was relishing the sound of his boss’ voice, his lips ghosting over his earlobe. He had started to drift off when a slap to the top of his head had woken him back up. _ “I said, you will not die.” _

 

_ “I got you, boss.”  _ He tried to reassure his boss, he was given an order, an order he would follow no matter what. 

 

_ And you recall each fun time _

_ Those picnics at the beach when love was new _

_ It well could be the one time _

_ A hopeless little dream like that comes true _

 

He remembered how with each headslap his body had reacted and relaxed at the reminder that his boss was watching over him.  He remembered their first case after Kate had joined the team. 

 

_ “Jumping’s gotta be so cool.”  _ He had gotten a wistful smile as he remembered his days on his broom at Hogwarts. The journal had made a note of his overeagerness to be in the air.

 

_ “Hey, you wanna play paratrooper? Pay $180, take a class like all those other weekend warriors. “ _ He smiled as he remembered Gibbs’ teasing.

 

_ “Yeah, I have so many weekends free,” _ he had quipped back.

 

_ If you find love hang on to each caress _

_ And never let love go _

_ For when it's gone you'll know the loneliness _

_ The heartbreak only the lonely know _

 

_ “You ever jump?” _ He had asked Gibbs. 

 

_ “When I get an electric shock.” _ had been his boss’ sarcastic reply.

 

_ “Explains the lack of power tools.” _ he had quipped right back. 

 

Gibbs had smiled fondly at him then,  _ “You going to do it?” _

 

_ “What?” _

 

_ “Spend $180 to defy gravity?”  _ He had nearly laughed aloud. He could defy gravity any time he wanted, but there was definitely something different about jumping out of a plane with only a parachute.

***

 

He finished the song and his memory as his hands rested in his lap for a moment as he sat in the silence of his apartment. He had a moment to think of his forethought when he had placed soundproofing wards around his home. He had intended it for his nightmares, so his neighbors wouldn’t think he was being murdered every night, but it had turned out to be a useful investment after he had bought the piano. His eyes rested on the letter once again.  _ Nathair _ was curled lovingly on the outside of the envelope. 

 

He watched his hand reach out and pick up the envelope as if it were someone else’s hand. He slowly opened it as his throat clenched. He slowly opened the simple paper, a scent of sawdust and coffee hitting his nose. 

 

_ Nathair, _

 

_ I never thought I could love after Shannon. You knew that, I don’t know how you knew that, but you knew. You knew about her and Kelly without me having to say a word, you knew about my pain.  _

 

_ Yet, you still loved me. You watched me crash a burn my last marriage when you first came aboard. You loved me, yet you never pushed. You always respected what my girls meant to me. You let me come to you. You never tried to compete with them, you let me have my grief.  _

 

_ I’d like to think that if that explosion hadn’t happened and I hadn’t lost my memory, that we’d be together by now. But that isn’t the case. I want to come back to you, just give me time. I’ll come back to you, I swear, just give me time to heal. Just let me come to you again, I’ll find you. _

 

_ ~Jet _

 

He didn’t realize he was crying until there was suddenly a wet spot on the paper before him. One hand clutched the paper, the other covered his mouth in shock. He felt his lips tremble against his hand. He closed his eyes and took a ragged breath. Carefully, he set the letter back down on his piano and picked up his cell phone. 

 

“Hey, Jimmy, look I know-”

 

“I’ll be right over.”

 

“You don’t have-”

 

“I know,” Jimmy interrupted him again. “If you’re calling me, then you want someone living to talk to. I’ll be over with pizza and beer and we’ll talk.” Jimmy hung up before he could respond to argue. 

 

Jimmy arrived with some frozen pizzas to shove into the oven, which he did as soon as he got there, acting like he lived there or something.  _ Then again, he practically does, I mean I call him often enough.  _

 

“Stop it. You’re over thinking things again.” Jimmy said to him as he passed along a beer. “So what’s got your thoughts all jumbled up tonight?”

 

His teeth grit as he felt the burn of tears this time as the tears built up again. He wordlessly handed over the letter from Jet and sat on his piano bench while he waited for Jimmy to read the letter. He strummed a few tunes as his fingers turned restless while he waited for Jimmy to read and process what was written. He took the time to process the letter and his own feelings while he waited. 

 

Tony was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the oven dinger ringing. He got up and grabbed the pizzas out of the oven and placed them on the countertop to cool and brought a beer over to Palmer who was still staring at the letter. 

 

“I think you need you play it.” Jimmy suddenly spoke. 

 

Tony grimaced, there was no need to ask what Jimmy wanted him to play. It was a song he had purposefully avoided. “It’ll just remind me-”

 

“That’s the point, if just playing the song can remind you of why you love him so much, then play it. Even if  _ he _ can’t remember who you are for whatever reason, then  _ you _ should. You know this break in his mind can’t last forever, it just can’t. You and he have both suffered too much in your lives to not have happiness in your lives.”

 

“But that’s just the thing, how do I know he leads to my happiness?” he looked up his friend, letting his worry and doubts shine through. “How can someone who causes so much pain in me possibly cause any amount of happiness?”

 

“Because that pain is derived from not being with him, if you knew for a fact he were happy with someone else, what would you do?”

 

Tony took a moment to think about it, his fingers lightly strumming across the keys of his piano. He belatedly realized that he was playing the song he had been actively avoiding. He pulled his fingers away from the piano as if burned. 

 

“I wouldn’t stand in his way, at least not if it was true happiness. I wouldn’t like it, but I would still-”

 

“Yeah, you’d still love him from afar and let him find his own happiness, sounds to me like you need to sing it.” Palmer lounged on his couch after getting a slice and and beer, looking at Tony pointedly. Tony rolled his eyes and his fingers found the keys. The words coming first to his mind, then coming out his mouth, not caring that Palmer was absently listening. 

 

_ Why do I do, just as you say,  _

_ why must I just, give you your way _

_ Why do I sigh, why don't I try - to forget _

 

Why, why? Because he was the boss? Because he loved him? 

 

_ It must have been, that something lovers call fate _

_ Kept me saying: "I have to wait" _

 

He had never had gone after what he had really wanted, in all his life, he had never fought for what he wanted because something would always take it away. Any friends he had growing up were chased away by Dudley. He hadn’t put forth his best effort in magical school because of Ron and Hermione. Cho had been the closest he had come to going after what he wanted, but he hadn’t  _ really _ wanted her. He had just thought she was cute. In the end he hadn’t gone after her because of Cedric. 

 

Even after Hogwarts, Ginny had come to him. He hadn't pursued her at all. He talked a big game at work because that was what was expected of him. Hell, half his ‘dates’ had either been men or stories he had heard from his dorm mates during school. 

_ I saw them all, just couldn't fall - 'til we met _

_ It had to be you, it had to be you _

_ I wandered around,  _

_ and finally found - the somebody who _

 

Gibbs had been it, the moment in that alley when he had pinned the old marine to the ground, Gibbs had been it. Gibbs had snatched him up, only quoting rule five when asked what the hell the man had seen in him.

 

_ Could make me be true,  _

_ and could make me be blue _

_ And even be glad,  _

_ just to be sad - thinking of you _

 

He hadn’t even fought for Gibbs, he realized. Would Gibbs want him to fight for him? It was all too confusing. Only Gibbs could make him sad just by thinking of the man. Thinking of the man with anyone else, but what was he supposed to do? Did he fight for the man literally of his dreams? 

 

_ Some others I've seen,  _

_ might never be mean _

_ Might never be cross,  _

_ or try to be boss,  _

 

He  _ was _ the boss, he took his lead from Gibbs. Yet he had watched intently for years and until those damn dreams had started up he hadn’t had any kind of indication that Gibbs could possibly have felt the same, at least in the waking world.

 

_ but they wouldn't do _

_ For nobody else, gave me a thrill -  _

_ with all your faults, I love you still _

_ It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you _

 

It had to be him. He rested his forehead on the keys of the piano and kept his head there after the tone had faded away. His breathing hitched a couple times while he tried to regain his composure. The whole time, Palmer just sat quietly and ate his pizza. 

 

“What do I do, Palmer,” his whispered brokenly, “what the hell am I supposed to do? He left me that damn letter and Jenny wants me to seduce the daughter of some arms dealer. What do I do?” 

 

“I don’t know, Tony, my first instinct is to tell you that this Jeanne business you’ve told me about is going to blow up in everyone’s faces, but you’re under orders. I know I couldn’t do it, Tony.” Palmer just looked over at him helplessly despite the fact that Tony couldn’t see him due to his forehead still resting on the now silent piano keys. 

 

A new voice joined them, Jimmy jumped about a foot in the air at the new arrival, but Tony just slumped further against the piano, “Follow your heart, Kiddo.” 

 

“Ah!” Jimmy screamed. Tony had a passing thought to thank his soundproofing wards again at Jimmy loud scream. He felt a brush of a cold hand against the back of his head. 

 

Tony smiled, “you trying to Gibbs smack me, Sirius?”

 

“Sirius Black?!” Jimmy squeaked.

 

“Hey there, Black Lung,” he could almost hear the smirk and the wink his godfather sent Palmer’s way.

 

“H-hi,” Palmer stammered out.

 

“Harry, you really should let us out more often, especially if your friends are going to freak out every time we show up,” Sirius admonished.

 

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind. Hey guys, come on over, by the way ghosts of my loved ones like to pop in and out of my apartment. Yeah, they’re the same loved ones as Harry Potter, by the way I’m Harry Potter in hiding, yeah that won’t freak out the team at all,” Tony’s voice came out from where he kept his head resting on the keys. 

 

“Oh, come on, Harry, where’s your Marauder Spirit?” 

 

“Well, gee, Sirius, maybe it’s a bit dampered by the heartache and crippling depression I’m feeling right now,” his head finally snapped up in a sudden flood of anger. His eyes red from crying despite his best efforts not to. 

 

Instead of seeing a smile on his Godfather’s face like he expected, he saw sadness. He also saw that his Godfather wasn’t alone. Remus and his father were there as well. They all shared a look with each other before they looked back at him with sympathy. 

 

“Teddy almost didn’t exist because I was too scared to fight for what I wanted. I wanted Tonks, I wanted a family, I couldn’t get those things without fighting for them,” Remus gently reminded him.

 

“You never had to fight against Tonks for Tonks. I have to fight against his own brain for my man,” he turned and held his head in his hands between his knees as he felt the tears come upon him once again. 

 

“I did, your mother hated my guts, Prongslet.” Tony winced at the reminder, if Snape hadn’t been such an idiot the man could have possibly been his father instead of James Potter. 

 

“He’s asked me to let him heal, does that mean I should let him go and try to find love elsewhere. That whole bullshit of ‘ _ if you love something set it free and if it’s meant to be it’ll come back _ ’?” He growled from his piano bench. 

 

“As much as it sucks, Tony, there’s some truth to that. Maybe Nathair should write a letter of his own,” Palmer had finally calmed down enough to give his advice among the Marauder’s. 

 

“And what would it say,  _ Hey babe, I love you, always have, always will, hope you come back to me, but if you find happiness elsewhere I’ll be happy, so long as you are _ ?” he couldn’t take sitting down anymore, he got up and started pacing. 

 

“Why not? After all that has happened, you still love him, kiddo.” Sirius spoke gently. “You likely will always love him, let him know that, let him know that he will always be loved by you, no matter what. You’ve already talked about if he were to be with someone else, yeah it would hurt, but you’d let him go if that’s what he really wanted.” 

 

Palmer walked over to his printer and pulled some paper from it, “tell him the truth, not as Tony, not as Harry, as Nathair. You’ve never felt comfortable in any role you’ve had to play in your life, not till Gibbs called you Nathair.” He gave Tony a look that reminded him of all the late night drunken confessions over these last months. 

 

Finally he sighed, “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used: Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day  
> Only the Lonely By Frank Sinatra  
> It had to be you by Frank Sinatra


	13. Faking It

It hadn’t been an easy transition, Gibbs being back full time. First Jenny offers him a position that they both know that he wouldn’t take, ever, let alone now. Now, when his boss’ brain was still more like swiss cheese than actual brain matter.

 

Tony didn’t pay attention to whatever it was that Tim and Ziva were discussing till they got closer.

 

“How would you know?” Tim was asking her.

 

“Know what?” he was distracting himself with balancing a pencil on his nose. He was also studiously ignoring Gibbs and the fuzzy thing that resided over the man’s lip.

 

“When an expert liar is telling Ziva a lie.” Tim responded.

 

“And this started, how?” he was genuinely curious.

 

“Well, I told her that I went to the gym this morning.” Tim admitted sheepishly. _So,_ you’re _supposed to be the expert liar? Sorry Probie, expert liar, you are not._

 

His head came forward and he caught the pencil as it rolled off his nose, he gave Tim a look, “no great skill in guessing you were fibbing there, probie.” That was another thing, Tim had had issues being called ‘probie’ again after Lee had left. “You may have lost some weight, and personally, I’m very proud of you, but ‘gym’ is definitely not your middle name.”

 

“Okay, well, Ziva thinks that _all_ men are liars.”

 

His face lit up in challenge, “oh, really?” He chuckled a little, “so if I were to lie to you, you would be able to tell?”

 

She chuckled at him, “particularly you.”

 

 _We’ll see about that_ . “You think?” _You think you’ll be able to sleuth out my lies, ha!_

 

“Wouldn’t go there, Tony,” McGee warned.

 

“Oh, watch and weep. True or false: I had eggs for breakfast this morning.”

 

“True,” _no hesitation_.

 

“Lucky guess. Last night, I had a date with a very beautiful woman.”

 

“False.” _Wrong, ha!_ He was so busy preening in his head that he nearly missed Gibbs’ whisper.

 

“True,” he said it with quite a bit of growl in his voice, which surprised Tony. He glanced at Tim and Ziva and saw that neither had heard Gibbs, so he played along as if Ziva had guessed correctly.

 

“She’s good. When I was twelve years old I was bitten by an extremely poisonous snake and nearly died.” Tony kept his face carefully blank.

 

Ziva looked at him thoughtfully, “That’s true, Tony. What were you doing around extremely poisonous snakes at twelve?”

 

“Fighting for my life,” he said nonchalantly. “You got them all correct, Ziva. You win this round.” Tony smiled at her and twirled on his desk to plop into his chair behind the desk. “So tell me, Zi-vah. How could you tell?”

 

“First off, there’s egg on your shirt,” she smirked at him, taking his lead of normalcy in their interactions, “second if you’d gone out with a beautiful woman last night, you’d have talked about it all day.”

 

Tony continued to smile at her, “and the snake bite?”

 

“It’s in your file that you’re resistant to certain poisons due to a childhood experience, I guessed that this was the case,” Ziva shrugged, glancing down guiltily, telling Tony that she knew this from the dossier she had made of him for Ari.

 

“Yeah, there’s even a scar on my inner right elbow,” he zeroed in every sense he had on Gibbs when he said this, he could feel the confusion from across the bullpen and carefully kept his face blank and facing Ziva, “it was a big snake too.”

 

“So does that mean that you hold a _fear_ of snakes?” Ziva asked innocently.

 

He nearly laughed at the thought, “no, Ziva, no fear of snakes for me. That was a one time thing and the snake died, so no fear.”

 

“Gear up,” Gibbs suddenly called out, “got a message from a dead guy.”

 

“Ready to roll, boss.” He fell into step behind his boss feeling both comforted by the familiar position, but sad at the distance between he and Gibbs. He buried his feelings down and focused himself on the upcoming case.

 

***

They arrived at the scene with Ducky and he walked up with Ziva in tow. “Jackpot. Got to be 50 or 60 bucks there.” He commented on the amount of coins in the car.

 

“Yeah, there’s more in his trouser pocket.” Ducky commented.

 

“What’re you thinking, illegal slots? Coin Counter?” Tony listed off.

 

“Maybe he was on his way to a video arcade?” McGee offered.

 

“Maybe it was laundry day,” Ziva continued.

 

“That’s a lot of laundry,” Tony eyed the amount of change, “besides, no laundry in the back.”

 

“Maybe he left it at the laund-o-alley?” Ziva countered.

 

“Laundromat,” Tony didn’t even think about how he corrected her anymore, it was just habit by now.

 

Gibbs looked over at the local LEO’s car, “Who’s the fare?”

 

“Oh, that’s Robert John Stevens.” the local handed Gibbs the license, “but the guy’s got an accent as thick as Polish sausage, so I ain’t buying it. Found a loaded .38 on the seat, recently fired.”

 

“Got an exit wound,” Gibbs asked of Ducky.

 

“Well, there doesn’t appear to an exit wound. So I dig out the bullet, you match it to the weapon and, hey, presto, justice prevails.” Ducky turned back from the car with an excited turn.

 

Something niggled at Tony about it though, “or one of us will get a concussion and end up in the hospital.” Gibbs gave Tony a funny look, as if he had spoken aloud what he had been feeling as well.

 

“Give me a call when you’re finished?” Ducky nodded at Tony.

 

“You got it Ducky,” Tony glanced over and saw Gibbs eyeballing the man in the squad car. He held up the ID and upon closer inspection he saw a weakley glamoured ‘W’ and nearly groaned aloud. _Shit, this guy’s a wizard. Fuck me._ “Doesn’t look like a fake to me.”

 

Ziva glanced at it over his shoulder, “fake.” _Whew, good thing Ziva can spot a fake as well as me._

 

“What are you talking about, you barely got a look at it.”

 

“I can spot a fake a mile away.” She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the car.

 

“I had the best fake ID in school. Got in an out of any store I wanted, half the time didn’t even need the ID.”

 

Ziva turned back to him, “really?” she eyed him suspiciously. “Never got turned away?”

 

“Nope,” he kept looking at the ID, “not once.” She hummed thoughtfully and turned back to her sketches. “Though there were a few close calls. I just smiled and most of my problems went away.” He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

 

“Yep, I was the master of fake. Nobody could catch me,” _yeah, fake school work to be dumber than Hermione so she wouldn’t shun me, fake strategies so Ron could have something to lord over me. Fake, fake, fake._ His jaw clenched at the memories. He quickly finished up processing the scene, anger and frustration at all the fakeness of his life building.

 

***

Tony walked into the Observation room with Ziva in tow. They watched as Gibbs entered Interrogation. _Fake relationship with someone I’m not in love with. Fake relationship in my dreams with the man I am in love with._ Thoughts continued to swirl in his head as he leaned against the wall at the back of the room, just watching Gibbs.

 

“Fake name…” _Yep, I got that already. Merlin, Anthony DiNozzo Jr., how does that not scream fake? Hell even Harry Potter feels fake to me._ “Fake plates. Real weapon. Real guy dead. When he first saw you, he called 911.” Gibbs paused a moment. “When you realized he was trailing you, you shot him.” The other man still refused to speak. “Even the very, very good ones slip up eventually. And you… Mister… Stevens? You’re not very good.”

 

Tony grit his teeth further, this wasn’t Gibbs. This was something else, probably how Mike Franks had interrogated. He didn’t like it. He wanted _his_ Gibbs back. He wanted those damn memories of his to come back. _Nathair_ had felt truer than anything else ever had and now there was some sort of break in Gibbs’ head. He remembered the letter he had written and left on Gibbs’ desk.

 

_Jet,_

 

_Of course I’ll wait, but you shouldn’t. Jet, if you find happiness, even if you weren’t looking for it, take it. Revel in that happiness, even if it’s not with me. Just remember that you will have my heart._

 

_Always._

 

_~Nathair_

 

The irony wasn’t lost on him that the word Snape used to describe his unrequited love for his mother was the same word he used in describing his love of Jet. He closed his eyes and banged his head on the wall twice. Ziva looked back at him, concerned, but Gibbs walked in just then.

 

He went straight to Ziva, “Ziva, how many languages do you speak?” _English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, learned a little bit of Russian from being penpals with Krum during school. Essentially learned Latin and Greek through magical studies. So, eight?_

 

Ziva entered interrogation and began asking the man questions as Tony listed off her languages, “French, German, Italian, Arabic-”

 

“Ah, got him. He’s Russian,” Gibbs latched onto that.

 

“Looked down and to the left, sure sign of a liar,” Tony commented.

 

“That’s very good, DiNozzo,” his lips lifted in a hopeful smile. “Did Ziva tell you that?”

 

The smile fell from his face and his jaw clenched, “no Luna did when I was fifteen,” _fuck off,_ he brushed past Gibbs and headed up to the bullpen. He needed to make a call.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs headed up to Abby’s lab, _why would DiNozzo tell me that? Who the hell is Luna? What kind of people was DiNozzo hanging around with as a kid? Why is he so angry? Why do I care?_ Gibbs shook thoughts of his SFA from his head and bent down to Abby’s level.

 

“Tell me you found a match on our suspect’s prints, Abs.”

 

Abby stayed squatting before her table of change, “Negative. Still processing. What we do have is $73.65. That’s what the victim was carrying. And there’s no pennies. He probably threw them out. A lot of people do, you know.” She gave him a look, as if she were talking about something else. It didn’t have anything to do with their case, he could tell from her look. “I mean I don’t, but other people do. Do you know how many pennies are thrown out or put into jars every year?”

 

Gibbs knew that it would be easier to indulge her message than to fight against it, “Enlighten me.”

 

“Three and half billion. Billion, Gibbs. That’s, like, $35 million in pennies. That’s a lot of pennies in any language. You know, Tony speaks a lot of languages, Gibbs,” she looked at him pointedly again.

 

“Including Russian?” he asked incredulously.

 

“I know he speaks a little, like curse words, important phrases, stuff like that, he had a penpal when he was in school,” Abby blinked and smiled at him smugly. “Why are you asking about Tony speaking russian?”

 

“I didn’t ask about Tony, you did. Run our guy’s prints through Immigration and let's find out what Russians have to do with our case,” he looked at her pointedly.

 

“Fine, but you and I need to talk mister, you’re not being fair to Tony.”

 

“Abs.”

 

“Fine, fine, since our guy is a foreigner and every visitor is printed when they enter the US. Clever, Gibbs.” She got that search going and moved over to another monitor. “Okay, I reviewed the 911 call. Ready?”

 

 _“My name is Jake Vale. This is really important, okay? I’ve identified a terrorist, a known terrorist. I’m following him downtown right now. Get someone over here. Call NC-”_ The call cut off after that.

 

“NCIS,” Abby finished for him. “I’m guessing an overtaxed relay tower in the downtown area caused the line to drop before he finished. But, Gibbs, this guy works in the supply department. What would he know about terrorists?”

 

“That’s a good question.”

 

“I also isolated a background noise,” she turned back and played a certain part of the call. It sounded like someone winning at slots or something. _Maybe Tony was right. DiNozzo! When did I start calling him Tony?_

 

“It’s kind of a pac-man-retro-meets-Vegas sort of thing. Not really something you hear in a car.”

 

“He was on foot when he made the call.” Abby’s computer dinged.   
  
“We have a winner, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Puchenko. Russian.” Her computer dinged again, “uh oh.” There was a Homeland Security Alert. He was Wanted. Gibbs exhaled unhappily when he read it. “You’re not the only one interested Mr. Nikolai Puchenko. Now that you’ve pumped me for all my information.” She scrunched up her face, “not that you would pump me for anything but information… or pump me for anything really. Ugh, got off track. Anyway, about Tony-”

 

“Abs, work first,” Gibbs growled at her and left her lab.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

McGee updated them on the cell tower used for the 911 call.  He pulled it up on the Plasma and he and Ziva studiously ignored him as he asked them if they knew anything about Operation Sunburst. “Back in ‘91, come on, anyone, Operation Sunburst.”

 

Tony looked around the room hopefully, but no one even glanced his way. _Ugh, okay, let’s see ‘91, ‘91, ‘91. Krum would be useless, hmm, where could I get more information?_

 

“About three city blocks…” McGee continued to ignore him.

 

“Less. Abby said the signal dropped out. That probably puts him at the outside edge of the reception area of the tower.” Gibbs came walking up. Tony’s heart leapt in his chest at the sound of his Boss’ voice, but he kept his head down as he continued to dig on the computer for anything about Operation Sunburst. He was sure that it had something to do with their case.

 

“That’s really clever, boss. How’d you figure that out?” Tony bit his lips closed to keep himself from answering. _Call dropped, Probie. Not that hard to figure it out, besides, we’ve been listening to you and Abby do your techno-babble for a few years now. If we couldn’t pick up on any of that we’d make poor investigators indeed._

 

“Too much time around you,” Gibbs replied and turned towards Tony. _Guess it’s my turn for show-and-tell. Though there’s not much to show and even less to tell._

 

“Boss, Operation Sunburst, you know it?” _‘91, I would have been eleven. Add 22 years and Gibbs would have been 33. Was he at NIS by then?_ “It was a sting. One of our ops, Chief Vale was part of it. He was just a PO3 back then, detailed from the supply department to NIS for five weeks.”

 

“Get me that file from archives.”

 

“I can’t.” Gibbs gave him a look. “I mean it’s not possible, boss. I got the index reference, but when I called the archive, they said the file was missing.” Tony grit his teeth for what he knew would come next.

 

“Check the log. Who booked it out last?” Gibbs hovered over his shoulder and he tried not to breathe too deeply of the scent of coffee and sawdust.

 

“CIA. So I guess that’s not a ‘who’ it’s more of an ‘it’.” He tried to stall, he really did.

 

“Who was the NIS case agent?” He didn’t even look at his screen when he pulled up Mike Franks’ file.

 

“What time is it in Mexico, right now?” Tony let a little snark into his voice.

 

“Cantina time.” He stalked over to his desk and leaned back and called Franks. “Well, I’m surviving. You?” Those words shot a pang through Tony, _there’s a difference between Surviving, and Living._ “Everyday.” Gibbs replied to whatever it was that Franks had asked him. “But then something stops me.” A pause, he could almost hear Franks calling Gibbs back to Mexico. “Operation Sunburst. You remember a Petty Officer named Vale… Well he was shot dead this morning… Well, you tell me. We got a suspect. Russian. Nikolai Puchenko… So you sent him undercover?... He bumped into Puchenko in the street. Recognized him, tried to follow him. Puchenko shot him...Yeah.” Tony’s head snapped back to Gibbs. It has sounded as if he had just admitted he had failed somewhere. Gibbs tossed his glasses back onto the desk. “Working on it, boss. Good luck with the fishing down there. Thanks for the tip.”

 

Tony stared at Gibbs. _Boss? It would make sense for him to call Franks, Boss. But still… I hate it, Gibbs shouldn’t call anyone Boss. Especially not some Cantina Trash that washed up on the Mexican beach._

 

“We got a case yet, DiNozzo?” Gibbs’ question snapped him out of his daze.

 

“Like you said, working on it, _boss,_ ” he stressed that last word and refused to look up at Gibbs.

 

“We’ve narrowed down the area where he was shot, and we do have a suspect in possession of a gun,” Ziva at least a little confident. Something niggled at Tony, the file had been taken by CIA. There had to be a reason that the CIA would want the file of some random sting operation run by NIS. He was sure there was a connection between the CIA and the failed sting op.

 

“Which means Murder One,” McGee added.

 

“With a bullet,” Tony looked to Gibbs.

 

“If we can find one.” Gibbs glanced across to his team and his eyes went back to his desk.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They had been sent home and the next day Mike fucking Franks was there. Tony hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Nightmares of the dead clawed for him, begged for him to help them. But he couldn’t. They were dead. The only things that drowned out those dreams had been nights spent at Gibbs’ place, or dreams with Jet. He thanked the stars above that magic existed or else everyone would have been asking about the massive bags under his eyes.

 

If it wasn’t bad enough in his dreams, his mind betrayed him when he was awake. Thinking over and over of all his secrets. Magic, Harry Potter, the dreams, the nightmares. Not even Palmer knew about the nightmares. The guy probably suspected, but Tony had never talked about his nightmares with anyone.

 

They were all staring at the plasma that was cued in to Interrogation. Puchenko was pointing at the camera and saying something.

 

“Same to you, Nikolai. Who’s that with him?” Mike asked. _Who the fuck would be with him in Interrogation?_

 

“Marty Allen. His lawyer.” Tony kept his answer short and clipped.

 

“Hope he’s not a good lawyer.”

 

“Enjoy your tour?” Gibbs put the phone down and walked back behind his desk.

 

“Yeah, place is like a video arcade. You’ve got more technology in one room than we had in every office across the whole damn country. You know, if I needed to interrogate someone when I worked at Camp Pendleton, I’d take them into the broom closet with a telephone directory.”

 

Tony’s fingers itched to take the cigarette out of Franks’ mouth. “No broom closet, no telephone directory, no smoking.” Tony perked up a bit to see Gibbs pluck the cancer stick out of Franks’ mouth and he was starting to sound like himself again.

 

“Another three reasons why I left just in...time.” Franks paused on the last word as Jenny came and stood beside the divider that was next to Tony’s desk.

 

“Special Agent Gibbs, may I have a moment?” She gave him a pointed look that said it wasn’t a request.

 

“Ooh rah, Gunny,” Franks said softly to Gibbs.

 

“You know that guy?” Ziva asked Franks.

 

Gibbs headed after Jenny, “Yeah. Like a rat knows a snake.”

 

Jenny and Gibbs talked with Jenny’s new shadow. After a bit he glanced back to see them all watching avidly. “Ziva, get Puchenko.”

 

Tony called down to give them a heads up and sat at his desk and watched as Ziva came up with Puchenko and uncuffed him. Franks leaned over his shoulder, like Gibbs, but not like Gibbs. He grit his teeth and mentally chanted _go away_. Over and over in his head, hoping that Franks would get the mental message.

 

“If he walks out of here, you won’t see him again. Any evidence you have won’t be worth spit.” _No such luck._

 

“We haven’t got enough evidence to even clear our throat,” Tony glanced at Franks’ annoyedly. “We can’t charge him with anything.”

 

Franks stood then and finally moved away from Tony. “Director, may I draw your attention to an NIS case code name Sunburst.” _Mr. Carver_ looked up sharply at that. “Which dealt with serious allegations of arms smuggling by this man Nikolai Puchenko.”

 

“I’m aware of the case, Mr. Franks,” Jenny responded diplomatically.

 

Mr. Carver spoke up, “As I recall, the file was lost, Mike.”

 

“I made a copy, Roy,” Tony watched as Franks kept his gaze even on Jenny’s, but Tony could tell he was lying. He glanced around the room and saw that everyone believed Franks, including Gibbs. He mentally sighed as he was the only one that knew Franks was lying, but he was lying to keep their case from getting sidelined so Tony went with it.

 

“Jake Vale was the key witness,” Carver told them. “He’s dead. You don’t have anyone to testify.”

 

Tony reached out with his magic a little and found that Carver wasn’t a Wizard, wasn’t even a squib. Puchenko he knew to be a Wizard, but as his so called ‘magical feelers’ were out, he felt something odd. Franks had a weak magical core. _Franks is a Squib, has to be._ He snuck a glance to his computer to see that it was starting to freak out, so he brought his magical senses back to himself.

 

“I was the case agent,” Mike nodded seriously at Jenny, “I’ll testify.”

 

“Serious enough charges for you, Director Shepard?” Gibbs asked her pointedly.

 

“Take him back into custody,” Jenny nodded to Ziva. “I’m sorry Mr. Carver, NCIS is not through with this man.”

 

Tony saw that Puchenko was starting to resist being arrested again and moved from behind his desk. While he didn’t know _that_ much Russian, Victor had made sure that he understood a few phrases. One such phrase spat out of Puchenko’s mouth as he shouted at Franks. Tony saw red for a moment as Puchenko called them all, essentially, filthy Mudbloods that were unfit to lick his boots.

 

Before he knew it, Puchenko was pinned against the window and Tony’s cuffs were around the man’s wrists. Tony knew he was far enough away from the computers to show off a little and let his magic flare enough for the man to feel it. Puchenko stilled as he felt the power rolling off of Tony in waves.

 

“You do not ever say _that_ again,” He squeezed the man’s arm and flared his magic in the tight space, making Puchenko whimper at the thickness of the air. “Do we understand each other, comrade?”

 

Puchenko swallowed thickly and nodded his fearful agreement. Tony let up the pressure of his magic and Puchenko nearly fell at the sudden loss of Tony’s magic. He turned back to see Gibbs looking at Tony confused. Ziva looked shocked, McGee looked like a deer caught in the headlights, Jenny looked impressed, Carver looked annoyed. Franks, Franks was looking at him as if he had just seen Tony in a new light. _Shit, he knows about magic._ He ignored them all and gave Puchenko one last withering glare before he roughly shoved the man in Ziva’s direction.

 

Carver cleared his throat, “Homeland Security looks forward to reviewing the file.”

 

“This is an outrage,” Puchenko’s lawyer finally spoke. “He has just been assaulted by you people. I strongly protest your department’s treatment of my client.”

 

Puchenko looked from his lawyer over to Tony. Tony glared and raised an eyebrow in challenge, he seemed to look at war with himself before he shouted something else in Russian, this time Tony only caught the word ‘dead’ in the phrase, so Puchenko hadn’t used the term again. Tony refused to meet anyone’s eyes as he sat back down at his desk.

 

“What all did he say,” Jenny asked them all.

 

Gibbs walked up to stand next to Franks, “the last bit he said was that you’re a dead man, Mike.”

 

“And earlier,” Jenny gave a pointed look in Tony’s direction.

 

Tony refused to look them in the eye. However, he did look to Franks. “He called Mr. Franks, here, a derogatory term that sets me off, not a common term, won’t happen again.”

 

“What term was it,” Gibbs asked.

 

Tony’s teeth clenched in refusal to answer, “no boss, somethings are not meant to be said. Ever.”

 

Gibbs looked at him hard for a moment before turning back to Franks. “We’re taking Puchenko’s threat to kill Franks seriously, so right now this is who we have to worry about.” Gibbs pulled up a picture on the plasma. “McGee.”

 

“Arkady Mikhailovich Kobach, late 40s. Served with Puchenko in the Spetsnaz. That’s Soviet Special Forces. First Afghanistan then Chechnya. In 1990, Arkady executed three clerks in a payroll office because they could not pay his men. He then shot the colonel who came to arrest him. Been dealing arms ever since.” McGee rattled off. _Well, at least he cares about his men getting paid._

 

“I want a 24-hour protection detail. DiNozzo, you’re team leader,” Gibbs called out.

 

“You’re in safe hands, Mike,” Tony flipped through the information that had been handed to him by McGee.

 

“I’ve seen your hands, DiNozzo. The only thing that’s impressed me about them was that little display by the window,” Franks nodded towards the window from his seat at Gibbs’ desk. Tony refused to look, it was as if it were sacrilege, Franks sitting at Gibbs’ desk. “Either way, I don’t need babysitting, Gunny. I can look after myself.”

 

“After spending four months in that crap hole you call a home in baja, I find that highly debatable,” Tony’s lips twitched upwards, _yes, there’s my Boss._

 

“Safe house, Boss?” He asked, _it’s probably going to be his house._

 

“Yep. Mine.” _Yep, his._ “Make yourself at home, Tony.”

 

“Won’t touch a thing, Boss.”  

 

McGee answered a call on his phone and Ducky apparently found his bullet. They all rode the elevator together and Tony reverse pickpocketed Franks and put one of his magically enchanted pens in the man’s pocket. He had even added a few enchantments the night before that would alert him as soon as the pen left the person he put it on. He knew Franks would be coming up to DC for the case and had made sure there was no way the man could go Lone Wolf on them, at least not without them knowing.

 

“It’s fascinating where bullets can end up. I once found a .22 caliber slug in a woman’s knee and she’d been shot in the chest. See, the bullet entered her heart, was pumped down through the aorta and into the iliac and on down into the femoral artery. Extraordinary.” Ducky regaled them.

 

Tony had learned that the woman in question had actually been Madame Hooch and that bullet had ended her dreams of playing quidditch professionally. One night on the town in the wrong Muggle bar and she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. If a handsome young Ducky hadn’t been around, Tony would have been taught how to fly from someone else.

 

“And the missing bullet is… where?” Tony prompted.

 

“I have no idea, none at all,” Ducky smiled broadly at them.

 

“You said you found it,” Gibbs demanded.

 

“Well, I have. I just don’t know where. I can, however, tell you how. It was Abby who gave me the idea when she said she’d be sick to her stomach if she ever lost evidence. ‘Sick,’ that’s the key word. So I had Abby run some tests of material I took from his esophagus and we found traces of protein, pepsin, along with all sorts of other things such as sulfides, oleic acid, polyphenols. But the smoking gun, so to speak, was the presence of triticum durum.” Ducky explained.

 

“Pasta?” Ziva asked. _Well, color me impressed._

 

“Specifically spaghetti cooked with garlic and olive oil. Spaghetti algio y olio, as the Romans say. Very nice with a glass of Sangiovese. Anyway, anyway, when the bullet became lodged in his stomach, he became sick. What you might call projectile vomit.”

 

“He puked up the bullet,” Tony asked Ducky for confirmation.

 

“Yeah. Find the puke and you’ll find the projectile.” Ducky confirmed.

 

“So you want us to look for a pile of dried-up vomit.” McGee did not sound thrilled. Right about then, Franks disappeared up stairs. Franks was still in the building, so Tony wasn’t too worried.

 

“Yes, and I’ll need a generous sample so I can positively match it to what I found in the victim. Oh, and of course, the bullet.” Ducky patted Tony’s arm as the older man passed him.

 

“Good thing I’m on Franks’ duty,” Tony mumbled under his breath.

 

“Ziva, McGee, get onto it.” Gibbs barked.

 

“Well, uh, boss, we have narrowed it down to a few city blocks.” McGee began to explain.

 

“Vale must have still been on foot when he was shot or he would have gotten sick in the car.” Ziva ruled out the car.

 

“So maybe a parking garage or a parking lot. That narrows it down.”

 

Gibbs began shooing them away, “go, go. Don’t come back without the bullet.” Gibbs was about to leave Autopsy when he paused and looked around. “Where is Mike?”

 

He couldn’t help the shudder that ran down his spine when Gibbs talked into his ear. “Up by the stairs in the squad room, trying to sneak a smoke, boss.”

 

Gibbs gave him an odd look and turned to go to the elevator, Tony automatically turned to follow him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Palmer giving him a thumbs up sign and a hopeful smile. Tony minutely shook his head, _Boss was nowhere near 100% but he’s getting there. Maybe Franks coming up here helped after all._

 

They took the elevator up and Tony just pointed forward and leaned against the wall out of sight of Franks as Gibbs confronted the man.

 

“Couldn’t find a broom closet,” Mike said as if that explained everything.

 

“How do you know Carver,” Tony heard Gibbs demand.

 

“Just another spook form the old days that made my job difficult.”

 

“You never mentioned you made a backup copy of that file.”

 

“It was a long time ago, probie.” Tony smirked around the corner, _Gibbs has got you now._

 

“Is it enough?” _Damnit, still trusting, Rule number 3, Boss. Three!_

 

“Should do the trick,” _Fuck, Franks is gonna run, dunno how, but he knows about magic and he sure as hell knows I snuck that pen on him._

 

“What’s in it?”

 

“Where’d you learn to be such a pain in the ass?”

 

“Working with you. There’s a lot of people who want to see what’s in that file, Mike.”

 

“Guess they’re going to be disappointed. There’s nothing to see.” _Is he finally going to admit that he’s got nothing?_ “But there’s plenty to listen to.”

 

“Vale was wearing a wire?” Gibbs sounded incredulous.

 

“And I was on the other end of it listening to every word. Dubbed a copy.” _Lie._ “I tell what I heard, audiotape backs me up and everyone’s happy except for Nikolai. Tell me, did you know your boy spoke russian?”

 

“Where’s the tape?” Gibbs ignored the question.

 

“Safe.”

 

“How safe?”

 

“Safe enough that no one’s found it for 15 years.” _yeah, cuz it doesn’t exist._ “This director, she’s okay, I guess, but I get the feeling that you’ve been working under her a little too long.”

 

“The world’s changing, Mike.”

 

“All the lines are getting blurred, Probie. Hard for a man not to step over them. How well do you know your boy, DiNozzo?” There was a pause as Gibbs stared at him. “You can call off this protection detail. I can take care of myself.”

 

“No, I can’t do that, Mike,” _Shit, is that worry in his voice?_ “All you have to be is half a second slower and you’re dead.”

 

“Or the other guy has to be a half-second faster just like it’s always been.”

 

Seeing his opening, he rounded the corner, “or you could have back-up that might see something you missed.”

 

Tony and Gibbs both faced Franks, raising their eyebrows in challenge.

 

“Alright, alright, I’ll go to your stupid ‘safe house’,” the airquotes he sarcastically put on the words only made them both cross their arms at him in unison. “What, I already agreed to go.”

 

Tony shook his head and led Franks out of the building. Once they were in his car, Franks’ gun was held against his side, “I don’t care how powerful a wizard you are kid, you can’t protect yourself from a gun pressed to your ribs. Now, what’re your intentions here?”

 

Tony sighed and rested his hands easily on the steering wheel. He took a deep breath and just when he was about to speak, the gun pressed harder. “And don’t even think of lying to me, I managed to get myself one of these.” He twirled what looked to be a miniature ‘spirit stick’ from any cheerleader movie he had ever seen. He knew better. It was a magical item that was clear until aimed at someone, then if what the person was saying was true, the smoke inside the stick would turn blue, a lie, smoke turned red.

 

Tony rested his forehead against the steering wheel and thought for a moment. “Come on, _Wizard_ , I don’t have all day.” _There it is_ . _You’re just like Filch, can’t stand magic, where as Filch couldn’t seem to stay away, you seem to have turned your back on it all._

 

“Actually, we do, you’re under protection detail, a protection detail that I’m in charge of. Hell, you didn’t even know I was a wizard till I attacked Puchenko for calling us all Mudbloods. My _intentions,_ as you call them, are to keep Gibbs and my team safe, catch the bad guys and at the end of the day crawl into an empty bed and dream of better things.” Throughout Tony’s tirade, he kept his head on the steering wheel.

 

“You’re holding something back,” _Oh, yeah, a couple of things._

 

“I don’t owe you any answers, I’ve answered your question. Now, let’s head to Gibbs’ place.” He started the car and drove out before Franks could object. They drove in silence back to Gibbs’ place, the stick had turned a pale blue, and Franks’ gun remained at his ribs.

 

Once they arrived at Gibbs’ place Franks hit the lock on the door to lock them in a moment, Tony looked at him out of the corner of his eye, clearly annoyed. “How do you feel about my Probie, DiNozzo?”

 

Tony’s jaw clenched and his eyes hardened. He glared over at Franks and breathed heavily out of his nose. Franks raised an eyebrow and they were at a standoff. He knew Tony wasn’t going to answer that question by how he had reacted. Franks wasn’t going to let up on the gun till he got an answer.

 

“I can’t say it, Franks. I say it, it makes it real.”

 

“Makes what real, DiNozzo?”

 

“Gibbs ever talk about a Nathair in Mexico?”

 

He knew there was a hint of hope in his voice, that Gibbs had thought of him during waking hours in Mexico. Franks looked thoughtful.

 

“What, you saying you know who this Nathair kid is?”

 

Tony silently nodded before whispering, “me.” He turned to the door and unlocked it before getting out while Franks sat there holding his glowing blue truth stick or whatever the hell they were called. He leaned against the car until Franks decided that he had had enough time to digest that information.

 

“So, what? You invaded his dreams and made him obsessed with you?” Franks growled once he exited the car.

 

His shoulders slumped, “if that were the case, don’t you think I would have jumped his bones by now?”

 

He pushed away from the car and began to make a circuit around the house. He had heard Franks go into the house while he remained outside. He didn’t want to talk to Franks any more than Franks wanted to talk to him. This was fine, so long as that stubborn bastard stayed in the fucking house. He kept coming outside for smoke breaks, as if smoking inside a building had ever bothered him before. It grated on Tony’s nerves, “you’re supposed to be inside the house, _Mike._ ”

 

“I must be getting sloppy, you’ve caught me every time,” he muttered the last part to himself.

 

“Oh, I just followed the cigarette smell.”

 

“I could always smoke inside,” Franks offered.

 

“You get to deal with Gibbs, then.”

 

Franks shuddered, “no thank you. I’ll just smoke outside, thank you very much.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes, “or you could just not smoke at all.” Ever since Trelawney he hadn’t been able to stomach incense or any other smoke producing paraphernalia out there. Quickest way to get him to throw up, light some incense.

 

Just then his phone rang, “DiNozzo.”

 

“It’s Gibbs.”

 

“Oh, hey boss, we were just talking about you.”

 

“We got a security problem. Time to go off script, where’s Franks?”

 

“He just went inside the house, I’ll get him,” something felt off and he crouched low so he was well below the bushes around Gibbs’ house on that side.

 

Suddenly pain hit the base of his skull and everything went black.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Tony? DiNozzo? Tony?!” _Shit._ Gibbs immediately closed his phone and raced out of MTAC. He had no idea how he had gotten to his house so fast, but when he got there he saw Tony’s car still in front of his house. He went to the backyard and saw Tony lying unconscious on the ground by the corner of the house. He immediately took out his cell phone and called the paramedics and told them there was an agent down, they responded that they would be there shortly and to stay on the line. Gibbs just growled at them to hurry and hung up.

 

“Tony? Tony!” He tried to shake the man awake roughly, but the reaction was not what he was expecting.

 

Still unconscious, with a possible head wound, the man curled into the smallest ball he could make, which was surprisingly small. He almost seemed to compact into himself and started shaking. He was muttering something, it sounded like DiNozzo, but the accent was wrong, “sorry, sorry, sorry, I’ll stop, please, stop Uncle Vernon.”

 

Gibbs was overcome with the urge to gather DiNozzo in his arms and before he knew it he had an armful of Tony and he could feel the fear pouring off of his Senior Field Agent. He gave into his instincts and gathered his SFA in his arms and rubbed soothing circles in his Agent’s back. Tony soon settled, but remained unconscious. So, Gibbs just sat there holding his SFA as he trembling slowly calmed.

 

He heard the sirens and saw the lights of the ambulance. The reflection of the lights on the glass shone directly into Tony’s eyes and Gibbs saw him flinch at the change. There was a reluctance to let Tony go, but he savagely pushed that to the side and gently released his SFA from his hold.

 

The paramedics arrived and Gibbs wordlessly went into the house to check what he knew to be true, Mike was gone. He had most likely attacked his SFA in order to get away from the protection detail. Gibbs wanted to growl and rip the head off of Mike for even touching DiNozzo. He stopped short of heading back outside, _where had that feeling come from?_ The anger didn’t dissipate despite his questioning and he headed outside with a carefully blank look on his face.

 

One of the paramedics was checking DiNozzo over and he heard the man ask the woman tending to him, “I lose any hair?”

 

She chuckled, DiNozzo had obviously worked his magic to make the woman more at ease, “no.”

 

Gibbs allowed him a moment of concern as he asked, “How is he?”

 

“He’ll live,” came her guarded response. Apparently his glare hadn’t been as toned down as he had thought when he had gone into the house.

 

“Well, I’ve been hit harder, boss, by you,” Tony smiled up at him, obviously he didn’t have any recollection of how he had woken up.

 

“How many were there,” Gibbs asked as he watched their interaction.

 

Tony winced, “I didn’t see, came up real fast from behind. The rest of our guys deployed from the house in less than 30 seconds. But they were already gone.” His eyes seemed to be begging for Gibbs to do something, to see something. Gibbs reached out before he could think better of it and used his thumb to pull Tony’s eyelid upwards to get a better look. Suddenly he was hit with a memory so hard he nearly stumbled back.

 

_Gibbs had no warning, his face and body angled away from Tony, he couldn’t see the rage that had gripped Tony’s features before Gibbs’ jacket was grabbed and he was practically flung back into the elevator. The doors closed faster than Gibbs had ever seen them close. When he turned his head to glare at Tony he was shocked. The power in his eyes was back and Tony’s face was contorted with his own rage and grief._

 

_“You were not the only one there, I was on that rooftop too. Ari shot at Kate because he knows she was the best way to get to all of us,” Tony’s calm voice bellied the rage on Tony’s face. “You might have been Ari’s target when he shot Kate, but you aren’t the only one left to pick up the pieces. Despite what you and this entire agency thinks, you are not all-knowing. It is not your fault that Kate is dead, Gibbs.” Tony’s hand struck the elevator wall, right next to Gibbs’ head. Suddenly Tony was in his face, too close. “You hear me, boss. It is not your fault.”_

 

Gibbs’ brow furrowed in thought, _that was Nathair, not Tony, wasn’t it?_ His phone rang and he nearly groaned aloud as he was reminded that he had a case and couldn’t take the time to figure out what was going on, at least not until the case was over.

 

“Yeah, Gibbs.”

 

“Director Shepard wants to see you in her office,” he heard Cynthia inform him succinctly.

 

“Tell her I’m on my way.”

 

“Jenny?” He grimaced before he turned it into a scrutinizing look, smiling at Tony cockily, though he wasn’t feeling it.

 

“ ‘Jenny’? Just, uh, how cozy did you two get while I was away?” He saw Tony clench his teeth before smiling broadly and laughing it off.

 

“Boy, that knock to the head must have been harder than I thought, ‘cause I’m saying crazy things that I don’t even understand. You think she’s single?” he nodded his head towards the paramedic that had just left him. It was an obvious deflection, and since it wasn’t case related, Gibbs let it go, for now.

 

“He’s fine,” he told the paramedic standing behind Tony. He stalked back into the house, but not before he saw Tony turn and grin cheekily up at the woman.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs opened the door to the Director’s office without knocking, she had asked for him anyway. _No point in knocking if you were expected._ He took note of the room and saw Carver was already there, trying to dig his clutches into Puchenko no doubt.

 

“You didn’t waste any time,” he had come back from Mexico a bit too early for his tastes so he had been emulating Franks, but not now. Now he was finally starting to feel like himself again, things were falling into place. The only thing that still niggled at him was the entire DiNozzo/Nathair issue.

 

“Bad news travels fast. Especially in this town. How’s your agent?” _Why, did you hit him?_ That thought had a feeling of rage that he quickly tapped down, _won’t help anything to react angrily._ Instead he leaned on Jenny’s desk.

 

“Do you really give a damn?” his tone challenging.

 

“Any update on Mike Franks?” Jenny interrupted quickly with a pointed look his way.

 

Gibbs shook his head, “no.”

 

“You expect to find him, Agent Gibbs?” _What the hell kind of questions is that?_

 

“He’s a resourceful man.”

 

“No doubt. In the meantime, I’d like Nikolai Puchenko released into my custody.”

 

 _Like hell_ , “I’m not finished with him.”

 

“But you are, Agent Gibbs. Perhaps your time would be better spent finding out who in your department leaked the location of the safe house where you were keeping your key witness,” Gibbs didn’t like the accusation in Carver’s tone.

 

“Did you?” He asked Carver, pointedly.

 

“Gibbs.” Jenny sent him a sharp look that he blatantly ignored.

 

Carver raised his head and made it a point to look him in the eye, “no.” _He may not be lying this time, but I’d wager he was the one that tipped off Puchenko the last time he was in NCIS sights._

 

“You did in ‘91,” the man looked down and his gaze twitched to the left.

 

Carver didn’t answer the accusation, “if you would like to have this request formalized, Director Shepard, that can be arranged.”

 

She looked at him with a raised, challenging eyebrow, “I’m sure you didn’t mean for that to sound like a threat, Mr. Carver. But in the meantime, Mr. Puchenko will remain in _our_ custody pending _our_ investigation into the disappearance of Mike Franks.”

 

“I think you need to look closer to home. Maybe there was no leak. Maybe Franks just lost his nerve and ran away. Or Kobach met his asking price,” Carver deflected.

 

Gibbs was mildly thankful his moustache hid his smirk, “you don’t know Mike Franks.” _If Mike was going to go rogue, it wouldn’t be for money from Kobach, it would be to-. Shit._

 

“And you really think you do?” _Well, yeah, I mean I only worked under him for years and just spend four months with the man. He’s not siding with Kobach, he’s trying to draw the man out. That’s what Tony was trying to tell me._

 

He just stared back silently until Carver made his exit. Jenny turned to him, warning in her eyes, “you’ve got about an hour and then all hell is going to break loose.” He turned to leave when she called him back. “Jethro, I really hope you know Mike Franks as well as you think you do.”

 

Gibbs stalked down to Interrogation, only to find out that Puchenko’s lawyer had stepped out, he set DiNozzo on guard duty and went to get a coffee. He sat on the steps just outside HQ and on a whim pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He stared down at it, he knew it came from DiNozzo, hell he had even had a picture of the man in there before he had gone down to Mexico.

 

 _But Why? Why was there a picture of DiNozzo in his wallet?_ It had been on the underside of the middle flap, so he would have had to flip it over in order to look at the picture. The leather at the crease had been habitually stretched so that it naturally flipped over. He had obviously stared at the picture of his SFA _, but Why? Sure, DiNozzo was beautiful, even reminds me of Nathair,  but why would I have a picture of DiNozzo in my wallet, but not Nathair? It doesn’t make sense._

 

He was startled out of his thoughts by a text from DiNozzo saying that the lawyer was back, he chugged the rest of his coffee and made his way to Interrogation, stopping by Abby for the bullet that McGee and Ziva had found. Afterall, he loved the theatrics of Interrogation. He loved seeing the look of utter despair when the perp knew there was no way out.

Gibbs walked down the hallway towards Interrogation, “Hey, what kept him?”

 

“Business,” DiNozzo glanced over at him, his eyes holding a tiredness that he hadn’t noticed before. DiNozzo was about to open the door for him when he put his hand out to stop him.

 

“You alright, DiNozzo,” there was more concern in his voice than he had planned.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The question had come out of nowhere, Tony hadn’t been expecting it, he couldn’t hide the shock, nor the tiredness from all the _fake_ this case had brought forth. Too many similarities with his own life and he was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to just tell GIbbs everything, all of it, the Magic, the Nathair/Tony split that had obviously happened, the dreams, he was just so tired, but now was not the time nor the place.

 

So instead of spilling his guts, he slipped on a familiar mask and smiled, “yeah, boss. I’m great. Let’s get this guy, then we can go after Franks.” He shot Gibbs another look at that, _please realize that Franks knocked me out. I can’t say anything without Franks being thought of as a traitor, bastard was most likely trying to draw out Kobach in order to kill him._

 

“Okay,” Gibbs’ softened eyes turned hard once more, “god, I hate lawyers.”

 

Tony opened the door for his boss and quickly made his way to the Observation room. He walked in just in time to hear the lawyer say, “I demand you release my client, Agent Gibbs. You’ve got no grounds to hold him. Your key witness has disappeared. You have no case.”

 

“Oh, you're right.” _That’s my Gibbs._ Tony frowned a little, _damnit! He’s not MY Gibbs._ “I don’t have a case against your client for arms dealing.” There was a tinkling sound as the bullet clanked against the glass of the evidence jar, “But I do have one for murder.” Gibbs turned and looked right at Tim with the look of pride that Tony had always craved.

 

Tim looked to Tony, “We deserve a medal.”

 

Tony smiled fondly at the probie, “that look is as close as you’re ever going to get, probie.” Tim nodded his understanding. Tim and Ziva already knew that, but the validation Tony gave them made them feel better. Tim and Ziva turned back to face the Interrogation and Tony leaned his head against the glass and allowed himself a bit of weakness. He looked out across the pane of glass at Gibbs and allowed himself to wallow a little. It seemed Gibbs had truly returned to himself, but not until Tony had gotten hurt and Mike Franks had come up from Mexico.

 

“Nikolai, you have a choice. You can spend the rest of your life in prison, or you can cut a deal. And you can tell me where to find your friend, Arkady.”

 

***

They stormed the house Puchenko led them to, they cleared the house quickly and Tony hung back to guard the door. Gibbs called for McGee, who ran in with his computer and immediately began a direct connection to track the last numbers called to the phone.

 

“Smoke’s from a Russian cigarette. Arkady hasn’t been gone long.” Ziva announced.

 

“Come on, double time.” Gibbs told the probie.

 

After a bit of quick finagling with wires and typing in the computer, “okay, we’re on. Ten calls made in the last day. Three in the last hour and a half. First was to a cell phone, Marty Allen. Second call was to Merchant Bank. The last call was to a hotel in the port district, El Ejecutivo. Call was made to room seven.” _That’s where Franks is._

 

“Mexican hotel. Names and numbers, McGee, starting with the hotel.” Gibbs drove the car over with Tony in front and Ziva in back. He called McGee to confirm, “are you sure?”

 

“That’s what the manager said. Room seven is booked in the name of a Camilla Charo, but it was not a woman that paid cash for the room. It was some old guy.” Tony heard McGee tell Gibbs over the phone. Gibbs snapped the phone closed and they ran for room Seven. The burst through the door and Tony nearly growled in frustration, _why the hell couldn’t this have been easy?_ Franks wasn’t there. Tony looked through the room and saw cigarettes in the ashtray.

 

“Franks’ brand,” Tony called out. Gibbs picked up the Cantina menu and they headed that way next. Ziva worked to clear the area around the bar and Gibbs went in on ahead. Tony hung back, at a sort of midpoint between Ziva and Gibbs. Tony heard gunshots, he told Ziva to secure the perimeter and raced off after Gibbs.

 

He arrived just as a man he assumed to be Arkady fell to the ground. He was behind Gibbs and the wall, so he couldn’t see Franks, but he could hear them just fine. Gibbs went to make sure Arkady was dead as Franks began speaking.   


“I knew he was over there. I figured I could take them both.” Tony was still hidden behind the wall, so neither man saw him, yet. “Arkady first, then the big guy. Maybe I am a half second slower.” _Holy shit, he actually admitted it._

 

“There was no leak, was there,” Tony heard the barely restrained anger in his boss’ voice.

 

“DiNozzo okay?” Tony was surprised at Gibbs’ reaction. Gibbs didn’t say anything, he just punched Mike in the face. Tony winced as he heard Franks’ head bounce a little off the wall he stood behind.

 

“Nobody touches what’s mine, Franks, not even you,” the anger in Gibbs’ voice made Tony’s brow furrow in thought. _His? Suddenly I’m_ his _now._ His feet unconsciously moved to pace as he thought and turned Gibbs’ words over in his head. He didn’t see the look of fury directed at Franks, nor the look of shock, confusion, and _want_ Gibbs directed at himself and Tony. No, Tony’s thoughts were all jumbled up in his head and he felt anger building within him. Finally, he looked to Gibbs as his boss looked at him with such confusion that his anger skyrocketed. _Fucker doesn’t even know what he’s talking about._ He turned and stalked angrily out of the bar as Ziva came running up.

 

“Everyone is out and all is clear,” she started to trail off as her head followed Tony’s walk out. Tony went out and stood on the sidewalk, he had to say something to Gibbs, _I’m not his, not anymore. I can’t be, not after he just dumped me and ran off to Mexico. He doesn’t have the right to call me his._ He chewed on the inside of his cheek until Gibbs came out to meet him, eyes wild with some kind of franticness that Tony didn’t understand. Didn’t want to understand, he was too angry.

 

Tony didn’t say anything, didn’t look at Gibbs as the older man leaned against the same windowsill he was. He glared out across the street, not really seeing anything as the thought of what to say. “You knew Franks set himself up as bait, didn’t you?”

 

His teeth ground together, he was sick of having to explain himself to Gibbs every single time now. He missed when Gibbs would read him in a glance and he was angry that Gibbs couldn’t seem to do that anymore. He was angry that Nathair had worked out to be a real person in Gibbs’ mind and not just a dream. He was angry that Gibbs didn’t remember that he was Nathair. He took a breath and realized all his anger stemmed from a feeling deep inside. He was alone. Before the explosion he hadn’t felt alone in years, but now he did. He just didn’t want to be alone anymore. He was tired of the masks, he was tired of all the fake.

 

“Tony-”

 

“I’m not-” Tony interrupted, then stopped himself. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let go of all his secrets, not right then. Gibbs probably wouldn’t believe him anyway, “I’m not _yours_ . You don’t take what’s _yours_ and run off to Mexico for four month with just a ‘you’ll do.’ Then come back and dump my shit back on my desk without a word. I know you’re a functional mute and all, _boss,”_ the word was sneered out as if it were a pain to say it. Gibbs swallowed thickly at that, but Tony was too angry to see it. “Do you have any idea what I went through the last four months? I kept this team together by emulating you because that’s what _they_ needed, and the only people who saw that? Abby and Palmer. McGee might have seen a little of it, but Ziva? Oh, she _hated_ me for it. Do you know why? Because you dropped us, you didn’t have our backs. We had yours so long as you let us, but when he comes down to it do you even trust us to have your back? ‘Cause that’s the only reason I can think of that you were alone on that boat Gibbs.”

 

“And what could you have done? It was a _bomb_ Tony,” Gibbs growled back at him.

 

“I could have protected you!”

 

“By getting yourself killed?”

 

“I would have been fine! I’m fucking magic!” Tony grabbed the hand that had punched Mike Franks and waved his hand over the bruised knuckles. The redness of Gibbs’ knuckles faded until his hand looked normal again. Gibbs’ eyes widened and his mouth snapped shut. Tony watched as Gibbs looked slowly back up at him and he let go of the hand as if it burned him.

 

“I’ll meet you back at Headquarters,” Tony walked away and Gibbs stood there on the sidewalk, in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, took a vacation to Oregon for a weekend and have been trying to find a time to work on this. :)


	14. Witch Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't know if anyone noticed, but after posting chapter 13, I added the Luna tags. Here's why.

The bossman was back. It made Tony happy, sad, and angry, all at the same time. Gibbs still wasn’t able to read him, but boy could he read Gibbs. Good thing too, because Gibbs had had no patience for anyone. Neither man had mentioned the little show of magic that had happened at the end of Franks’ visit, neither wanted to. Gibbs just kept watching him, but he was acting like Gibbs again, so Tony let it be. 

He looked around the office for a moment, it had been a quiet week, but he knew from events all his life, weird shit happened on Halloween. He opened his drawer that he had prepared for this moment. He took out wads of paper and began intermittently making shots into Tim’s waste basket. He looked over at Ziva and from her behavior, couldn’t help but ask, “Not planning on leaving early, are you?”

“And if I am?” she kept preening her eyebrows in the handheld mirror she held.

“I wouldn’t advise it,” he kept making shots to help burn off some of his excess energy. It had been a while since his last dream with Gibbs. He felt restless. “You know what today is?”

“Tuesday.”

“It’s Halloween, Ziva. All Hallow’s Eve,” he put a little whoo-oo in his voice.

“I know,” she groaned, “the wearing of silly outfits and begging for treats. I imagine it would be a DiNozzo national holiday?” she asked coyly.

“Well, you imagine wrong, I don’t do Halloween,”  _ kinda hard to celebrate on the day your parents died and left you orphaned and left to live with your aunt and uncle who hate you and everything about you. _

“I see,” she looked at him thoughtfully, as if trying to read his expression. He always had a hard time around Halloween, didn’t help that even in the Mundane world weird shit happened that always involved law enforcement on Halloween.

“Your father again, yes?”

“I don’t do Halloween because ever since I became a cop weird things always happen on October 31,” not a complete lie. It’s just that he had experienced bad things on Halloween all his life. What, with a Mountain Troll nearly killing Hermione when he was 11, then there was the tri-wizard tournament and his fucking name coming out of a cup that shouldn’t have had his name in it to begin with.  _ And that’s just to name a couple of incidents around Halloween. _ He gave a mental shudder. He hated Halloween.

“Define weird,” he’s almost sure that they had had a similar conversation last year, but then there had been the whole drama of Gibbs losing his memory,  _ so I guess it makes sense that Ziva would forget that she’s already heard most of this. _

“Grave robberies, beheadings, cattle mutilations,” he caught a glimpse of McGee coming out of the bathroom buttoning up his shirt, but the weird part was that his chest was furry and blue. “And McGee turning fuzzy and blue.”

Tim looked up and around at them all confused, “what?”

“What’s under your shirt?” Ziva shouted over. Tony could tell that Tim was nervous,  _ probably a costume Halloween party, probably has a date. Good for you, probie. _

“My t-shirt,”  _ not a lie,  _ but Tony couldn’t help but smile. 

“Okay, he’s lying,” Ziva announced. 

He couldn’t help the laughter bubbling inside, “oh, yeah.” He looked down into the bag McGee had been carrying and laughed a bit more, “oh, yeah.” He snatched it out of McGee’s chair with a gleeful cackle. Tim looked resignedly over the bullpen as Tony dug into his new prize. He pulled out a fuzzy blue hat and tossed it over to Ziva. “I knew you played a fairy on that online game, but dressing up as one?”

“It’s a snow elf. And I’m going to a costume party, okay?” Tim defended. Tony saw Ziva put on the hat and look at herself in the mirror. 

“It's far from okay, prob-ay.” he put the fuzzy blue slippers over his hands. “In fact I’d say this is, taking geek one step beyond.”

“Oh, sadly, I have to agree. I instantly felt all the respect leave my body as soon as I put this on,” Ziva said with a laugh. Tony smiled and laughed along with her. 

“Well, normally you’d be right, but you haven’t yet met my ice queen,” Tim beckoned Ziva over with a cocky grin. 

Tony moved to get a better look at McGee’s computer, “you have to be kidding me.” Ziva came over and McGee pushed a few buttons on his keyboard. A picture of a beautiful blonde woman popped up on McGee’s computer. Tony froze. He knew those eyes. He knew that hair. His eyes were blown wide in panic. 

“Did I also mention that she’s an accomplished author? From England?” McGee smiled cockily as he put his hands in his pockets and backed up to let them at his computer. 

Ziva hit a button and the picture changed. Tony couldn’t believe his eyes, it felt like his brain had shorted out. The woman in the pictures would have told him it was the wrackspurts or something messing with his head. 

“Very impressive,” Ziva’s comment seemed to give Tony’s brain enough of a jolt to realize that he needed to say something. 

“She’s a very hot woman,” he said a little too quickly, “h-how did you find her?” He shot McGee a quick look of disbelief to sell it.  _ How? How the hell could McGee have met Luna fucking Lovegood!??!?!?!?!?! _ He felt his brain start to short out again and almost didn’t hear McGee’s answer. 

“Well, she was a friend of Abby’s, I talked to Abby about my writing and she gave me Luna’s email. We’ve been talking off and on for a while, but she just moved to DC and I invited her to a costume party.”  _ She moved here? She’s friends with Abby? What? Fuck? _

He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help it, finally Gibbs cut through with a glorious distraction, “gear up.”

Tony quickly hid his blue covered hands under his arms as Gibbs did a double take as he looked at his team. Gibbs slowly approached McGee’s desk and looked to each of them. After a moment, Ziva remembered the hat on her head and hurriedly took it off her head. Tony was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Luna knew both Abby and McGee,  _ who else does she know?  _ His eyes saw Gibbs,  _ oh god, Luna meeting Gibbs. Oh god, Gibbs meeting Luna, oh god. She’d be able to read me in a heartbeat. Fuck.  _

McGee looked down at the blue fur poking out from under his shirt, “I’m going to a costume party, later tonight.”

“Not anymore, Elf Lord. General Custer has been shot, and he has a dead skeleton in his living room,” hearing Gibbs talk about their next case relaxed something in Tony, wither it was the subject or the one speaking, Tony really didn’t care at the moment. He just wanted to get out there, away from potentially crossing paths with Luna or even thinking about Luna at the moment. 

“What’d I tell ya, Halloween,” Tony quickly took off the blue fuzzy slippers off his hands and put them in McGee’s bag. 

They headed out to the crime scene and Tim called Luna on the way, Tony kept himself quiet as he focused on the road, “Hey, Luna. yeah I’m not going to be able to make it to the party, we got called out on a case.”

He tried not to listen, but the probie sat right next to him and and the phone pressed to his left ear, right next to Tony. “That’s alright, Tim. We’ll have fun with Abby’s other friends some other time.” 

McGee blinked, “really? So, you’re not mad or anything? I mean we spent a long time making these costumes?”  _ They made the costumes? _ Tony could feel Ziva on the other side of the van wanting to make a joke, but for some reason she stayed quiet as well. 

“How about this, when you finish your case, you and your team come over and we can have our own Halloween celebration. Oh, and Tim. I mean your  _ whole _ team, Gibbs, Ducky, Jimmy, Ziva, and  _ Tony _ all better come or you tried your best.” The way she said his name made him want to run away into the Forbidden Forest naked, on Halloween. He knew he had to go, otherwise Luna would hunt him down, of that he had no doubt. He tried to resign himself to his fate and they arrived at the crime scene. McGee was still on the phone talking about something or other, as soon as they had gotten out of the truck, Tony kept his distance. 

“You’re gonna be asked to go to Luna’s house for a smaller costume party,” he spoke quietly to Ziva. 

“I know, think she’ll mind if I bring a date?” Ziva gave Tony a coy look. He didn’t look at her, he kept his head down as he gathered the bags.

“No, Ziva, she won’t mind,” he didn’t see the curious expression on her face as he studiously ignored her. 

“Do you know her,” Ziva asked directly. 

“I have seen her before McGee’s computer,” he hedged. McGee finally hung up and strode over to them.

“Hey, you guys wanna meet Luna,” he asked them hopefully. 

Ziva kept an eye on Tony as she asked, “would she mind if I brought a date?”

Tim shook his head, “not at all. What about you, Tony?”

Tony nodded and tried to unslump his shoulders, he probably looked like he was heading to his doom. Thankfully Gibbs walked over and saved him again, “Guy dressed as Custer is Staff Sergeant Erik Niles. LEOs are looking for his wife and daughter. Blood trail leads from his house to the neighbor’s house who called it in. Tony, Ziva, get her statement. McGee, start processing the Staff Sergeant’s living room. Oh and there’s a dead John Doe in there dressed as a skeleton.” They started to walk off to their respective tasks when Tony heard McGee. 

“Um, hey boss, when this case is done would you want to come to a costume party hosted by my girlfriend?” Tony held his breath for a moment. 

_ Please say no, please say no, please say no. _

“Yeah, sure, Tim. Once the case is done,” Gibbs nodded and headed off in his own direction. Tony silently headed to Cleopatra’s house.  _ Yay, Gibbs is meeting Luna, Luna is meeting Gibbs. She’s going to tear me a new one for disappearing without a word to her, she’s gonna kill me. She’s friends with Abby. She’s going to kill me and leave no forensic evidence and she’s going to have a room full of Federal Agents to back her up. Yay. _ The sarcasm dripped from his thoughts to the smile he tried to force on his face. 

It was then that Ducky pulled up with his windshield covered in eggs. The team stopped for a moment and watched as Ducky hauled out two teenage boys dressed as ninjas and set them to cleaning the van. Tony smiled at Ducky, till he saw McGee heading towards the ME and his assistant. He turned and headed back in the direction of Cleopatra’s house. He knew Ducky and Palmer would agree to go to the small Halloween Party.  _ Well, at least Luna and Palmer will be able to talk about me as Harry Potter _ . 

“I thought he was playacting at first. General Custer’s Last Stand, all that?” the neighbor had a kind voice and seemed to genuinely want to be helpful. 

“You removed his jacket. Why?” Ziva asked.

“To check for other wounds. There weren’t any. Just a single gunshot wound that nicked his carotid artery. I’m a doctor, pediatrician,”  _ ah, explains the soft voice.  _ It reminded him of Poppy during his many visits to the infirmary she was kind voiced just like the doc,  _ till her patients got unruly like sneaking out early. _

“Oh, that explains why he headed over here. You probably saved his life, Doctor.” He made a few notes on his pad.

“I stabilized him the best I could until the EMTs arrived… and it’s Leslie.” She smiled at him.

He looked up from his notes and smiled back at the pretty lady. “Did he say anything to you?” Ziva cut across. 

“He was trying to. I think it was his daughter’s name, Sarah. I’m hoping she was with her mother when this,” Dr. Leslie took a steadying breath, “this happened.”

Shortly after that McGee comes out of the other house, screaming that there’s something going on over there. They clear the house, but McGee insists that someone was there. 

“Look I know what I saw. Someone policed the brass, tried to wipe up the blood,” Tim looked to Gibbs. 

“Who, probie, the crime scene fairies?” Tony asked jokingly. He looked to Palmer and asked the silent question. He subtly shook his head, his magic hadn’t sensed anyone in the house. “There’s no one here.” Tony continued.

“Get Ducky in here, we’re wasting time.” Gibbs ordered Tony. 

“Boss, I’m sorry, but I swear, there-”

Tony knew Gibbs would interrupt McGee and start teaching him about reading a room. Gibbs had kind of latched onto McGee since his return and Tony tried to keep any jealousy out of his interactions. He caught wind of a witness and went back to tell Gibbs. 

“Good news, boss. A kid saw a car leaving the sergeant’s house around the time of the shooting. Ziva’s getting the description,” he eyed Ducky over with the body and remembered Gibbs’ demonstration of how the Skeleton’s neck got that way. He remembered how it felt to be pinned beneath Gibbs and he remembered how he had just relaxed into that grip. He got lost in his memories a moment until he felt something brush against his foot.

Tony jerked and called out, “something just touched my foot. Something’s under the couch.” He saw Gibbs move and look at the couch suspiciously.

“Maybe it’s the, uh, crime scene fairy, Tony.” Tony shushed McGee and turned back to the couch. 

He crouched down to look under the couch, “I hate Halloween.” He saw something moving steadily under the couch and it came out beside him. 

“Hey, it’s a Roomba. It’s a robot vacuum cleaner, uses navigational sensors to clean the floor while the owner’s away,” McGee explained. 

“Yes, well, your Roomba is about to interfere with your crime scene.” Ducky chuckled to himself. Tony sat down on the couch and caught his breath. He heard a crunch and looked up to see that Gibbs had stomped on the Roomba and found their missing shells. 

“Damn thing policed the brass,” Gibbs rolled the casings in his hand. 

“Told you I wasn’t crazy,” Tim defended himself to Tony. He held up his hands as a sign of defeat. 

“Bag it,” Gibbs barked out. 

Ziva joined them in the house, “the boy saw a car leaving the scene that looked like a Kuruma. I’m not familiar with the model.” 

“Kuruma is Japanese for car, Ziva.” Gibbs blinked at her. 

“Your description of the car is car,” Tony joked,  _ but how would a kid know Japanese in DC. Eh, probably some ambassador’s kid. _ “Nice work, Officer David.”

“Kuruma’s the name of a car in Grand Theft Auto Three,” McGee spoke up from the floor.  _ Ah, that makes much more sense for a kid’s description. _ “It’s a Chrysler Sebring sedan.” 

“McGeek with the save,” he praised. 

“I’ll put out a BOLO,” Ziva left them again. 

“Find the Staff sergeant’s wife and-”

“Erik,” a woman’s voice interrupted Gibbs as she strode into the house. She stopped short as Ducky and Palmer were lifting the body. She stared in horror till Tony stood in her view. 

“It’s not him,” he told her firmly as he blocked her path through their crime scene. “That’s not your husband.” Tony looked into the woman’s eyes and used his magic to try and soothe her frayed nerves, “that is not your husband. Okay?” 

She nodded at him and the woman at her side looked at the wife and smiled with relief. They sat the women down. McGee and Tony sat with the wife while Gibbs asked her sister, Rebecca questions. 

“We were up at the school helping set up for the Halloween party when the police came.”

“Is her daughter still there,” Gibbs asked. 

“Sarah? She was with Erik.” 

_ Shit, _ “Amber Alert, on it, Boss.” He hated missing kids cases. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony and Tim walked into Autopsy to find Ducky talking with his ‘patient’ per the norm. “Did you know that the tradition of Halloween was brought over from Scotland? Along with the fine sports of golf and curling.”

“I wouldn’t call anything using a broom a sport, Ducky.” He looked down at their de-masked skeleton. 

“Tony, curling is referred to as chess on ice, because it puts high demands on tactics and foresight. Besides that friend of yours from Scotland enjoys a broom-based sport quite a bit from what I hear,” Ducky gave him a pointed look and Tony looked to Tim to see the confusion on his Probie’s face. 

“Relax, Ducky, I love Scotland. The weather, the lakes, hell, Sean Connery,” he threw out his best Bond, “the very best James Bond ever.”

Tim looked panicked over at Tony, “I thought he was Irish.” Ducky laughed. “uh,  _ Darby o’Gill and the Little People. _ ” Tim defended. 

“He was using a fake Irish accent,” he decided to show off a little and let his original British accent slip into his voice, “it’s called acting.” 

“The preliminary cause of death is blunt-force trauma to the neck. However, once I’ve done the, uh,-”

“This guy’s our only link to the missing girl,” Tony interrupted and threw his sad eyes at Ducky, “I need an ID.”

Ducky turned to look at Tony, “Well, currently, he remains a John Doe. He had no ID, he has no tattoos, no distinguishing marks. Here.” Ducky handed the camera over to Tim. 

“What about his prints,” Tony queried. 

“Mr. Palmer took them up to Abby’s lab, although she’s not there, and she’s not answering her calls,” Ducky informed them.

“Halloween’s a pretty big night for Abby. She was probably at the party I was supposed to take Luna to, I could see if Luna’s with her,” Tim pulled out his phone and began dialing as Tony remained quiet. 

Just then Palmer walked in, “ah, there you are, is she here yet?”

“Oh, she’s here,” Palmer had a look on his face of pure glee. “And she’s in costume.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s it like?” Tony asked, looking his friend in the eye.

Palmer looked him right back and grinned, “trust me, you wouldn’t want me to ruin the surprise.” 

Tim and Tony all but raced out of Autopsy and went up to Abby’s Labby. They walked in and stopped short. Tony’s eyes widened and he knew Tim was just as stunned at his side. She was dressed as Marilyn Monroe. 

“Oh, sorry I was late, you guys. I couldn’t hear my cell phone ringing at the party. The party  _ you _ were supposed to go to, Tim. You’d think a cemetary would be a little quieter. Luna already invited me to the party after the case, so you don’t have to invite me. It’s really awful about that little girl. I mean, getting kidnapped on Halloween. Totally creepy.” She turned back to her computers and Tim raised the camera in his hands and snapped a few pictures. 

“I’m running our skeleton’s fingerprints through AFIS. I’m starting with Virginia and Maryland and then a subset of all known child molesters on the East Coast. Got an Amber Alert running, no hits yet.” She twirled her dress as she turned back to them again. “We’ve got to find her.” 

They remained silent, the camera cradled in Tim’s hands. 

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have food in my teeth or something?”

Tony smiled at Abby, “you look great Abs. Great costume.” 

“You like? Luna helped me with it, she’s great! Can’t wait for you guys to meet her after this case,” she smiled warmly at them.

Tony smiled back, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Need to run our dead guy’s photo against mug shots.”

She held up her hands as they walked closer, Tim was looking at her in a daze. Tony’s eyes narrowed and slapped the Probie upside the head, “uh. Right. Right.” Tim quickly handed over the camera and Abby set to to work. 

Tony’s phone went off and he answered with the customary, “DiNozzo.”

“Woodbridge PD has a kid who says he may have seen the Sebring in the neighborhood,” Gibbs barked in his ear.

“Okay, on it. We also got a picture of our skeleton without the makeup.”

“Send them. See if I can get the wife to ID him. What’s the condition of the staff sergeant?” Tony heard drawers opening and closing in the background on Gibbs’ side. 

“Still in surgery. According to the doctors, we won’t be able to interview him until tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s too late.”

“Yeah. Kidnappers call back yet?”

“Nope, but it makes me wonder.”

“If she’s still alive?” Tony asked, a little worried he was right. 

“No. What they want with an enlisted Marine who makes less than $32,000 a year. Hey, that magic thing you showed me, any use here?”

_ That came out of the blue, _ “Uh, no, boss, need certain things for that to work and it would take too long.”  _ I’d need something of the kid’s, blood of the family, which would go against the Statue of Secrecy, and it would only work in a certain range.  _

“Fine, find out more about the family.” Gibbs hung up without a goodbye, which was normal. Tony filled Tim in on the conversation, sans the magic question at the end, and they got to work. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs came back into the living room where Ziva was sitting at the computers looking like she had just accidentally said the wrong thing. A glance to the wife told him that that was indeed the case. He leaned over to look at the computer screens in front of Ziva. He got a good look at their John Doe and led her over to the kitchen. 

“Did she recognize him?”

“I haven’t showed it to her yet. Apparently, everything I say makes her cry.” Gibbs held back a grimace,  _ maybe I should have kept Tony here. He knows how to deal with victims.  _ Gibbs still didn’t know how he felt about his SFA. He felt protectie of the agent, but there was a bit of fear as well. Especially after the whole  _ magic _ thing the man had showed him after the case with Franks.  _ And what the hell am I supposed to do with that? Magic is real?  _ He didn’t like not knowing things and finding out that his SFA had been magical and could have helped solve their cases faster all these years made him angry. Then a thought occurred,  _ maybe Tony  _ has _ been using magic all these years. Maybe that was why their solve rate had been so high ever since Tony joined.  _  He shook these thoughts from his mind and turned his mind back to Ziva. 

“Ziva, her husband is in critical condition her daughter’s been kidnapped.”

“I know, I’m just not very good with the crying and the women and…”

“That makes two of us,” Gibbs knew he sure as hell didn’t do well with emotions, just look at all of his past relationships. Then there was that whole Nathair issue. There was something niggling in the back of his mind about that still, as if Nathair didn’t exist. At least not in a way he could find the damn man. First thing when he had returned to NCIS was to search the employee database for any man named Nathiar, but there had been none. 

“I also believe she’s hiding something. She seems conflicted, like she’s holding something back.” 

Gibbs started walking back through the house, “let me show you something.” He led her to the bedroom where she saw what he had. 

“One shirt, our staff sergeant wasn’t living here.”

“That a question or a statement?”   
  


“Actually, more of a- You want me to find out why,” her dark eyes bore into his. He gave her a look that said,  _ ya think? _ and stalked off back to the living room and set the computer with the face of their John Doe in front of the wife. 

“This is the guy that was fighting with your husband.”

“Sorry, Agent Gibbs, I don’t recognize him.” His heart went out to the wife, it really did, but something was off. He didn’t know if it was his own issues or hers. She had red curly hair and that was enough to remind him of Shannon. Pain shot through him at the reminder and his hand went to his pocket and he gripped the wallet that rested there. 

“Think Laurie, maybe you saw him at a store or the mall,” Rebecca, the sister, cajoled. 

“I said I don’t know him,” he saw anger bright in Laurie’s eyes. She looked back to Gibbs, “can I talk to Erik? 

“Sure, he’s still in surgery. When he gets out, we’ll put him on the phone with you,” he watched Rebecca grasp her  _ sister _ ’s arm in comfort, but Gibbs saw Laurie tense at the contact. 

“It’s gonna be alright. We need to have faith,” Rebecca tried to calm. 

Laurie jerked her hand back, “stop touching me!” Gibbs glanced between the two women for a moment before Laurie got up and stalked to her kitchen to get herself a glass of water. Gibbs silently got up and handed her a paper towel. 

“I know what you’re going through, Laurie.” He remembered this worry and pain when Nathair had been chained to a serial killer, Jeffrey White, they had lost contact and the GPS signal. He knew it was Nathair that had done that mission, it had been a hard one for the man. Apparently Nathair really like Jeffrey White. Just like Kate had like Ari. Except his Nathair hadn’t hesitated to kill the man, like Kate had. “I know- I know there’s nothing I can say-”

“You ever have a daughter kidnapped?” 

“Kidnapped, no,”  _ Kelly hadn’t been kidnapped. No, his child had been murdered. _ His hand reached into his pocket again and settled on his wallet once more. “I promise to do everything I can do to bring your daughter home safe.”

“I believe you Agent Gibbs. I just hope it’ll be enough.”  _ Yeah, you and me both. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“ _ Dawn of the Dead  _ was awesome,” Abby shot back at him. The Zombie witness had sparked a conversation of Zombie and Horror movies. 

“Cinematic blasphemy,” Tony gasped as he ate his sandwich. “Fast Zombies? There a reason you don’t remake classics.”

“John Carpenter’s  _ The Thing _ ,” Abby smiled smugly at him as she twirled her dress around. 

“Well, there’s an exception to every rule.”

“ _ The Fly. _ ”

“Maybe two,” he conceded.

“Didn’t you say that Al Pacino in  _ Scarface _ was the best-” Tim began. 

“Okay, but my point is: zombies should be slow.” He had enough nightmares of inferi coming out of a lake in a cave, he didn’t like most movies with fast undead creatures.

“Tony, there’s nothing scary about a zombie dragging his butt around,” Abby twirled again. 

“Well, a zombie’s not a zombie unless it’s dragging its butt around.”

“You liked  _ 28 Days Later. _ Those zombies were really quick,” Tim smiled smugly at him. 

He shook his head, “okay, enough with the zombies already!”  _ bad enough I still have Luna looming over my head, I really don’t want to have nightmares involving caves tonight _ . “We find an impression on the vegetable or not?” 

“Technically, it’s a fruit.” Tim defended. 

“We’ve finished rendering the laser scan of the Great Pumpkin’s surface. McGee, can you invert the image? As soon as you’re done undressing me with your eyes.” She turned back to the plasma. “And bring up the gamma. And increase the contrast. And flop it. Smashing Pumpkins! It’s the left-hand side of a Virginia license plate.”

“Nice work, Abs. Run it, McGee!” He barked back at McGee.  _ He’s dating Luna and making googly eyes at Abby. I don’t like it. _

“First four letters, cross-referencing against Chrysler Sebrings.” He entered the information and they got lucky, “and we got a hit. Car was registered to a rental car company in Catlett, Virginia.”

“Good job Probie, Abby,” he placed a kiss to Abby’s forehead and ordered for McGee to find out who rented the car. “I’m about to make Gibbs’ night.”

“Uh, wait a second, Tony. There is no name. Car was reported stolen three days ago.” Tony grimaced and shut his phone before the call connected. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Our staff sergeant moved into the Quantico Bachelor Enlisted Quarters three weeks ago,” Ziva informed him as they moved to a more private area of the house.

“Marital problems?”

“Well, according to someone called Scuttle… butt, he caught his wife cheating on him,” Gibbs smiled it never got old, showing off his intimate Marine knowledge.

“Scuttlebutt’s not a person, Ziva. Scuttlebutt is what Marines call gossip,” Gibbs informed her, just as he had informed Kate, Tony, and Nathair. Tim seemed to know what Scuttlebutt was before getting to him. 

“And then you wonder why I have a problem with your language,” Ziva complained to him just before they heard the phone ring. They quickly made their way to the main room where Laurie was standing. 

Gibbs went to her and said in his most gentle voice, “okay, stay calm. Tell him you want to talk to Sarah. Can you do that for me, Laurie?”

She hiccuped a sob before nodding, “okay.” She pressed the button on her cell, “Sarah?” 

“Try again,” the voice had been mechanically distorted. 

“I want to talk to my daughter right now or I’m, I’m hanging up.”

“Hang up and she dies, Mrs. Niles.” the voice responded calmly. 

Laurie sighed and sat down before the phone, “I want to talk to her right now.”

“Talk is cheap. If you want to see her alive again, that’ll cost.”

Gibbs rolled his finger to keep her talking to the kidnappers, “whatever it is, whatever you want, I’ll do it. I-I give you my word.”

“$100,000 in small bills. You have until dawn to get it.”

“Yes, okay, now- now just please let me talk to my daughter.”  _ She didn’t even balk at the amount, hmmm. Something’s not right about the wife. _

“Money first, then you can talk.” He hung up abruptly. Not enough time for a trace. 

“Call wasn’t long enough to trace.” Ziva explained, “we’ll get another chance when he calls her back to tell her where to drop off the ransom.”

Gibbs leaned close to Laurie, “Laurie… I’d like to talk to you, alone.” 

She looked up at him, no not at him, she looked to Rebecca, “it’s okay, honey. I’ll be right here if you need me. I’m not going anywhere.” 

She nodded her head and followed Gibbs to the master bedroom. Before he left he ordered Ziva, “Tell DiNozzo I want that John Doe ID’d in an hour.”

They walked into the bedroom and Laurie started talking, “we don’t have a hundred thousand dollars sitting in the basement, Agent Gibbs. Maybe my parents can get it, but it’s going to take time.”

He nodded, “yeah, we can help you with that. But I need some answers first,” he set her to sit on her bed. 

“Anything.”

“Sit down. So, Laurie, why did your husband move out of your house and onto base?” Gibbs looked at her as tears gathered at her eyes. 

She looked to him, confused, “what does that have to do with this?”

“Maybe nothing, but I need to know.” He waited patiently as she explained. 

“We were having some problems. Erik wanted a trial separation.”

He nodded for her to continue, but when she didn’t he prompted her, “why?”   
  


“I made a mistake. A stupid mistake eight years ago.”  _ Sarah’s eight or so.  _

“What kind of mistake?” He asked though he already had an idea. She hung her head in shame. “Laurie, look, I’ve been married four times. I’ve made every mistake in the book.”

“Right before we were married, Erik, he- he broke off our engagement for a few weeks. I saw an old boyfriend. It was a stupid fling. I pretended it never happened.”

“Erik’s not your daughter’s biological father?”  _ Yeah, I remember when I made that mistake too. Ginger hadn’t been too happy to find Daniel in my bed. Even less happy to find Danny trussed up and tied to the bed with a few whips lying on the bed next to him. Back red from the slashes of my whip.  _ Gibbs shook the image and memory from his mind as he resettled back on the case.

“I don’t know. But even if I did, it doesn’t matter.”

“How’d your husband find out?”

“My ex-boyfriend, last month, he showed up and demanded Sarah take a paternity test. When I refused, he threatened me.”

“And his name? Address?”

“Robert Miller. I have no idea what his address is.” She seemed to relax, not typical of finding a possible lead. 

“He live in Virginia?”

“Used to.”

“Age, weight, eye and hair color? We can run him down through DMV.”

“He’s 28 years old. Brown hair, green eyes. Maybe 180 pounds.” Laurie listed off and Ziva went off to make phone calls. Gibbs shut the door to ensure they wouldn’t be overheard. 

“Hey, Laurie, what aren’t you telling me?” He gave her a hard stare. 

Her eyes searched his and he could tell some kind of resolve was breaking and that she wanted to trust him, “It’s my fault. I-I…”

“Laurie?” He heard Rebecca call.  _ Damnit, I know something else is going on here and Laurie and Rebecca are in the middle of it, but she won’t talk around Rebecca. If I push, Sarah could get hurt.  _ “You okay in here?”

Laurie immediately started sobbing to stop herself from talking further and Gibbs stood and carefully didn’t look at Rebecca, “no, I destroyed my family.”

“Don’t you think she’s been through enough already?” He went back to his earlier questioning.

“Could Miller have done this?” He asked her point blank. 

“Maybe, I- I don’t know. I just want my baby back.” She sobbed and looked up at Gibbs pleadingly. He kept his face blank as he ran through all the information he had been gathering. Things weren’t adding up. This whole thing seemed to be centered around the mother and her issues.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“She’s just telling you this now?” Tony asked into his phone incredulously.

“Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean she’d tell me everything, Tony.”  _ No, but as an investigator this should have been brought up earlier, Ziva. _

“Robert Miller- there’s over 300 listed in the tri-state area alone.” McGee lamented. 

“Narrow the search with the criteria, Probie,” Tony leaned over McGee’s desk with his phone attached to his ear. 

“Still over a hundred Robert Millers listed,” McGee lamented again. 

Tony thought for a second, “we’ve got her cell phone records, right?”

“When we tapped her lines.” McGee eagerly told him, though he didn’t follow the line of thinking. 

“So check to see if Robert Miller called in the last month.”

He quickly typed into his computer, “Abby’s right, I am three beers short of a six-pack.”

“I think she was talking about your abs, McFlabby.” Tony teased. Tim needed a bit of teasing for ogling Abby while dating Luna. 

“Okay, three calls about a month ago. Called from his home phone.” Tony relayed the info over to Ziva. After that they headed over to Robert Miller’s house. On the way over Tony thought about the man next to him.  _ Did Luna know he was Harry? Is that why she made friends with Abby and agreed to a date with Tim? No, she’s not that kind of person. She would have met and genuinely liked them to remain friends with them. She’ll probably ask about Teddy. _

“Last time I did anything for Halloween, I helped my godson sneak out from his grandmother’s house and took him around to the neighbors.” Tony began.

“I didn’t know you had a godson,” Tim responded, shocked. 

“Yeah, Teddy’s the son of a friend of my dad’s. Guy wanted me of all people to be Teddy’s godfather.” Tony felt the familiar thickness of his throat whenever he thought of Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs. 

“Why not your dad?” _ Because he died _ . 

Tony clenched his teeth to keep from blurting that out, “Senior was too busy to be a part of the kid’s life and Remus wanted Teddy’s godfather not to be a stranger.” The lie slipped from his mouth, almost without any catches in his voice. 

“Ah, got any pictures?”

Tony smiled, grateful for the switch back to talking about Teddy, “yeah, I was planning on printing some off for Luna. Don’t know when the last time she saw him was.” 

“Wait, are you saying Luna knows your godson?” 

“Yeah, Remus taught at her school for a year. He was a great teacher, always answered every question. Always had the patience of a saint and tried to work with the kids that struggled, even if the kid didn’t want help,”  _ like Crabbe and Goyle.  _

“Wow,” Tim’s brow furrowed in thought and kept quiet the rest of the ride to Miller’s place. They arrived to see Gibbs already checking out a car on the curb, they quickly parked and met up with Gibbs. They saw what had Gibbs so focused on the car. “Kuruma.” 

_ Well, we found the car. Now for the girl.  _ “Plates match,” Gibbs called out. Evidence was starting to point in the direction of Miller being their culprit, but something didn’t sit right with Tony. They opened the car and searched in it.

“Something was burned in here recently,” McGee commented, he reached in and pulled out the ashtray. “Still smouldering.”

“Pop the trunk, McGee,” Gibbs moved to the back of the car and found the little girl’s glittery princess cap. Tony’s heart clenched and he thought of how he would feel if anything like that ever happened to Teddy. Then again if Teddy ever got kidnapped, he would have a little bit more leeway to act, with magic. “Let’s get this son of a bitch.”

Tony followed dutifully after Gibbs as he led the way to Miller’s apartment. They burst through the door and found a costume party in full swing. The man in the carrot costume laughed at them, “great group costume guys, but, uh… you spelled CSI wrong on your hats.”

The crowd laughed and Gibbs put his weapon away, “Robert Miller?”

“Somebody’s in a bad mood,” Tony winced at Carrot’s response. Gibbs grabbed the man by the costume and pinned him against the wall. Carrot then quickly told them where Miller was. Gibbs took off in the direction that Carrot had pointed. 

“Not easy being a root vegetable, is it? By the way N-C-I-S is not spelled wrong,” he quickly trailed after Gibbs.

“Hab Sosli’ guch!” an angry voice said to Gibbs. 

“Boss, he just said, ‘your mother has a smooth forehead.’” McGee came in with a translation. Gibbs just looked at McGee. “It’s a Klingon insult.”

“You speak Klingon?” Tony asked Tim.  _ Does Luna know Klingon? _

“Not fluently, but yes.” McGee looked back to their Klingon as Gibbs held up his identification and identified them as Federal Agents. 

“Zeghbe Thlinganpu!”

“Now he’s saying, ‘Klingon’s don’t surrender.’” Gibbs quickly took the man down and asked him directly if he was Robert Miller. 

“Who are you people?” their Klingon asked in english. Gibbs hauled him back up to his feet. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“Sarah Niles… Where is she?” Tony saw McGee take off to do a quick search of the place.

Miller took some false teeth out of his mouth, “that bitch sent you here. My lawyer says I have a right to know if she’s my child. I’m just trying to do the right thing. If she’s my daughter, I just want to be a part of her life. She looks exactly like me.” Gibbs gave him a look. “Well, except for the fake teeth and the bumps on the forehead.”

“Is that why you kidnapped her?”

Tony saw the horror and worry enter Miller’s eyes and knew Miller had nothing to do with Sarah’s kidnapping. “I didn’t kidnap anybody.”

“The car that was used is parked outside downstairs.”

“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. I’ve been here all day with my friends getting ready for this party. You can ask ‘em.”

McGee came back, “boss, no sign of Sarah.” 

“See I told ya.”

“The only thing I hate worse than Halloween are Klingons,”  _ not really,  _ but he wanted to let out a bit of his frustration at his least favorite type of case on his least favorite holiday. 

“Look, ask ‘em, okay? Ask Fred, the guy with the cheesehead hat. Ask, uh, Gerald, the Vampire. David Lee Roth. Carrot man, ask him.”

“This has gone far enough. I happen to be a lawyer.” Carrot man started talking again. 

Tony turned angrily to Carrot man, “good, the only thing I hate worse than Klingons are lawyers.” Carrot man backed off in the face of Tony’s glare. 

“I didn’t do anything, alright? Laurie’s the one who threatened me. She told me that her husband- her husband was going to kill me if I didn’t leave her alone. Ask her.” Miller pleaded with them. 

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs sent him a look that said to contact Ziva. Man may not have anything to do with Sarah Niles’ kidnapping, but he was their best lead. He turned away to call Ziva and Gibbs quickly cuffed him.

“Ziva,” she answers.

“Boss wants to talk to the mom,” there was a pause before he heard Ziva knocking on a door and calling for Mrs. Niles. He heard her open the door and Tony quickly realized that apparently Mrs. Niles had run away from Ziva and their help. 

***

Tony watched Gibbs from the Observation room. He could see the tears that lined Miller’s eyes. Guy looked weird without the wig and the majority of his costume. He glanced to McGee and joked, “General Kang crying, or is that just sweat? 

“Half-hour alone in a room with an angry Gibbs… even Klingon’s have their limits.” 

Tony sipped at the coffee he had gone to get, it was already turning out to be a long ass night, “what’s he been doing to him?”

“Mostly staring.”

“Maybe that’s a new interrogation technique.”  _ Only reason why I can think of Gibbs just staring at Miller.  _

“Well, it seems to be working. It’s definitely creeping me out. You check his alibi?”

“Well, according to six people, Worf here was at the party when the little girl was kidnapped.”

“Well, shouldn’t we tell Gibbs that,” McGee looked at Tony questioningly. 

“Well, first off Rule 22. Not only that, but riddle me this, you figure out how the kidnapper’s car was outside his apartment yet?”

“Right, never bother Gibbs in interrogation.” Tim thought for a moment, “he could have hired someone to kidnap her.”

“Or he was being framed,” Tony argued back.

“I’m trying to cooperate, Agent Gibbs. Aren’t you going to say anything? You know, we’re wasting time here. Right now there’s someone out there with my daughter doing God knows what.”

Finally Gibbs spoke, “alleged.”

Tony looked critically at his boss. 

Tears were basically freely streaming down Miller’s face, “what?”

“Alleged daughter, Miller.”

“Whether I’m her father or not, she’s still Laurie’s daughter. I still care about what happens to her.”

“I believe you.” Gibbs sat there calmly with his arms across his chest. 

“Well, then why are we just sitting here?”

“You’re sitting. I’m waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

Gibbs’ phone rang. He walked out of Interrogation and McGee and Tony followed him into the hallway. “Talk to me Abs…. On my way.”

Gibbs started walking their way, “Checked Miller’s alibi.”

Gibbs interrupted him before he could continue, “he didn’t do it. I know.”

“Mind telling us how?” McGee’s face was contorted in confusion. 

“Spent 40 minutes with him.”

“Well, all you really did was stare at him.” 

Gibbs kept walking as they talked, “you ever try reading a Klingon’s face, McGee? It ain’t exactly easy.” 

Tony grinned, he remembered coming over for steaks every now and then, before the explosion. He had brought some of the Star Trek movies with him and they had bonded over them and some other movies. They were happy memories. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You ever try reading a Klingon’s face, McGee? It ain’t exactly easy,” he kept the smile off his face as he remembered Nathair bringing over the Star Trek movies and how they had laughed themselves silly over just about everything in the movies. He kept both the smile and the frown off his face as he led the way to Abby’s Lab. 

The inner frown was that even after he had come back, after he had given Tony the letter for Nathair. Nathair hadn’t come back over since. He missed the man. His laughter, the way his emerald eyes would sparkle as he laughed. Something niggled at the back of his mind again, but before he could think further on it, they arrived at Abby’s lab.

“I’ve ID’d our skeleton. Our dead John is no longer a Doe. I got a hit on him from the DMV database. Lee Varon. He’s 38 years old from Fredericksburg, Virginia. No criminal record.”

“I want everything on this guy from birth until Ducky cracked his sternum.” He barked out and saw Tony and McGee both ogling Abby in her Monroe costume. He glanced between them for a moment before he whacked both of them upside their heads. “Yeah! On it Boss.” He supplied for them.

“Yeah, on it, Boss.” came from McGee. 

“Thanks, Boss,” came from Tony, but it wasn’t the words that had Gibbs frozen for a second, it was the tone.

He mentally shook himself and leaned closer to Abby, “not bad for a blonde, you wearing that to the party once the case is done?”

“You mean you’re going?!” she smiled happily. 

“Yeah, why not,” he shrugged nonchalantly. 

“By the way, there’s no statistical evidence that say blondes have lower IQ’s than any other hair color,” she shouted after him as he left her Lab. “There’s more, if you’re interested.” Correction, tried to leave her lab. He poked his head back through the coor, “Mr. President, she teased. 

“I ran some tests on the piece of burned paper found inside the kidnapper’s car. There were no fingerprints, but I did find traces of chemicals,” she held said piece of paper in her hands.

“Ink?” he guessed. 

“Yes. When I applied my own special and unique brand of chemical, ran it through the laser scanner a few times, we get…” she walked over to her computer and pushed a few buttons. “this. The miracle that separates us from all other primates. Really bad penmanship.”  _ Proof that Miller wasn’t involved, just framed.  _

Ziva came walking in just then, “Miller’s home address. Probably given to the kidnapper by the staff sergeant’s wife.”

“She didn’t kidnap her daughter,” Gibbs spoke with conviction. 

“Then where is Laurie Niles, Gibbs?” Ziva asked.

“Last time I saw her, with you.” He knew he was being harsh on her, but he was really tired of his team losing the people they were supposed to be protecting. First Tony loses Franks, now Ziva had lost Laurie Niles. It was frustrating that the apparently best team in NCIS couldn’t keep their protectees protected. 

“Okay, I admit I screwed that one up,” he heard the frustration in Ziva’s voice. “But  _ why _ did she run?” 

He looked back at her with an exasperated expression, “She was hiding something.”

“So you do agree with me?” Ziva looked shocked. 

“Oh, yeah. You definitely screwed up.” Gibbs marched himself up to the bullpen and whacked the side of a filing cabinet to let out some of his frustrations,  _ wish it was a softer something to beat my frustrations out on _ . Gibbs scowled and pushed the thought from his mind. It had been a while since his last dream with Nathair, he was restless. 

“Our dead skeleton served in the air force. Received an other than honorable discharge in 2003. Did one year of community college,” McGee rattled off. 

Tony picked up where McGee let off, like well rehearsed twins, “he was a security guard, boss. Worked for a law firm, Kapp and Associates, in Annandale, Virginia.” The fact that Tony had called him boss seemed to mollify some dark beast within Gibbs, for the moment. 

“Laurie Niles also works for Kapp and Associates, Gibbs.” Ziva interjected, “she’s their chief financial officer.”

“So she knew him,” Gibbs knew that Tony was glancing his way to see if he had caught that Laurie had lied earlier. Honestly too much had been on his mind, it felt like he couldn’t focus. He knew he had to blow off some steam, and soon. 

“She hired him to abduct her daughter,” Ziva theorized, “I mean, it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“There’s another reason,” something hadn’t sat right with him about the sister, Rebecca. “They kidnapped her because they want Laurie to do something.”

“Like what?” Gibbs looked to Ziva silently asking her,  _ I don’t know, why don’t you tell me why someone would kidnap the kid of a Chief Financial Officer of a prestigious law firm? _

There was a beeping coming from McGee’s computer, “Ooh, we got a hit on a BOLO here.” 

“Yeah, and? McGee?” He had had a thought that McGee could have been Nathair somehow and had shown a little more interest in the man, investigated, really, but he had found that McGee was decidedly  _ not _ his Nathair. He remained in his seat and looked expectantly at the computer savvy agent. 

“And this is strange because I just entered it into the system.” He did some typing and began speaking again, “It’s Varon’s vehicle, and it’s been moving.”

“There a cop following him?” Gibbs asked and walked over and hovered over McGee’s shoulder. The man tensed,  _ Nathair always relaxed _ . 

“No, the hits were generated electronically. It’s his E-Z Pass for high-speed toll lanes,” McGee typed some more and Gibbs saw that he had put it on the plasma. He moved away from McGee and out of the corner of his eye he saw Tony’s eyes glancing from the screen to him.  _ Was that relief when I moved away from McGee? _

“He’s doing a lot of driving for a dead guy,” he didn’t hear any relief or jealousy in Tony’s voice when he made his comment. 

He heard Ziva’s voice next, “it left Woodridge right after Laurie Niles and her sister disappeared.” 

He went back to his desk as Tony spoke up again, “made a little run up to Manassas not too far from Miller’s apartment.” He grabbed his gear and heard his team gearing up as well. 

“Last hit was five minutes ago.”

“Annandale, one exit from Kapp and Associates Law Firm.” Gibbs was already walking out of their circle of desks and saw Tony was the only one completely ready to follow him. Something in him was happy at that. He shook the feeling away and tried to focus his mind on the case. 

***

They cleared the outer area and saw glitter on the floor from Sarah’s costume, Gibbs told Ziva and Tony to find Sarah while he and McGee headed for the deeper offices. 

“In the last office. Far room, far room. Visual contact on the sisters.” He heard McGee in his ear through the radio. “Appears to be one male Caucasian, approximately 35 years old holding them hostage with a semiautomatic weapon.” Gibbs felt a moment of pride for how far McGee had come since coming onto his team. He then remembered that Nathair had argued for McGee to be brought onto the team. Gibbs nearly groaned aloud at his own idiocy,  _ how could Nathair be McGee if Nathair argued for McGee to join the team? _ He refocused himself back to the task at hand. 

“You got a positive ID on the little girl?”

“Negative, I can only see the left side of the room, boss.” 

They saw Laurie argue with her kidnapper, but they didn’t act until they saw the man aim his gun at the women. Gibbs shot out of one side of the hallway and McGee shot out of an office on the other. “Federal Agents!” 

“Drop your weapon!” McGee shouted and began firing once the man turned his gun towards them. They entered the office and saw Laurie panicking and looking between them and where the man had once stood. 

“Th-they still have Sarah.” Rebecca said with an appropriately worried gasp to her voice. Gibbs grabbed the weapon from the man as McGee comforted them that if Sarah was in the building, that they would find her. Laurie staggered from the office and into the hallway. Rebecca and McGee followed her. 

Gibbs let out a sigh of relief when he heard Tony’s voice saying that they had Sarah. Gibbs chased after them, “hey hold up, hold up, hold up.” He saw Rebecca giving Laurie a pointed look. “We’ve got Sarah.” He took a subtle step back as McGee started talking. 

“Once we secure the building, you and your sister can see her.” He smiled a little as Laurie socked Rebecca in the jaw. McGee stood agape as Laurie screamed. 

“She’s not my sister!” a punch to the gut. “She’s one of them!”  _ Rebecca _ fell to the floor. “Told me if I didn’t lie to you, they’d kill my baby!” a kick to the gut.  _ Man trained his wife well. _ Laurie just kept kicking at  _ Rebecca _ . Once Laurie finished her shouted explanation, he grabbed her and pulled her away from  _ Rebecca _ while McGee cuffed her. Laurie weakly tried to fight him as Gibbs held her away from continuing her assault of  _ Rebecca _ . 

“Stop!” he ordered her and some of the fight left her. 

“All they wanted was the stupid money!” Laurie sobbed until she caught sight of her baby at the door, “Sarah!”

“Mommy!” Gibbs felt his heart clench at the unrestrained joy in the little girl’s voice. His hand clenched around his wallet and he didn’t remember his hand moving to his pocket. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony looked confused as he saw  _ Rebecca  _ lying on the ground, cuffed by McGee. The woman had blood running down her face and he smiled,  _ Laurie must have attacked her as soon as Gibbs told them Sarah was safe. _

“Apparently she doesn’t  _ have _ a sister,” Gibbs nodded his explanation to him and Ziva.

“Halloween, Ziva. Be glad it only happens once a year.”

“Ah yes, case closed. Don’t we have our own Party to head to now?” Ziva looked excitedly at them all. Just then Tim’s phone rang. 

He quickly answered it, “Hey, Luna, what’s going on?”

Tony was close enough that he heard Luna’s answer before he thought to not eavesdrop. “You’ve just finished your case with a happy ending, Tim. However, I know you are all tired from working all night, so get some sleep, give the little girl a happy Halloween and we’ll have our party tomorrow night!” 

Luna hung up and McGee blinked at his phone. He looked up at Tony, “did you tell her-”

Tony shook his head vehemently, Luna had her own ways of finding out things. He had once asked her how she knew the things she knew and had gotten a very long-winded explanation about the information gathering capabilities of the Little Folk that would have put Ducky to shame.  _ Hell no, I didn’t tell Luna anything. If you want that explanation, Probie, you’ll have to ask her yourself. _

***

They headed home and Tony knew that he wouldn’t get any sleep that night so it wasn’t worth trying. Instead he went to the nearest 24-hour Wal-Mart and bought out their section of candy and left over masks. Early the next morning he went around to all the desks and explained to his fellow agents what he had planned. They all agreed and Tony took a moment to feel proud of the people he worked with. 

Next he called Laurie Niles and told her that the NCIS agents had something special planned for Sarah and that she should bring the girl by in her pretty Princess costume. 

“The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween?” Ducky smiled as he placed candy in the little girl’s plastic hollow pumpkin. “That’s how we used to say ‘trick or treat’ in Scotland.” 

Sarah Niles smiled up at the grandfatherly man, “thank you.” 

“You’re most welcome, Your Highness,” Ducky bowed and let his Scottish trill enter his voice. 

Abby smiled at them and held out her hand, “we have a lot of desks to get to.” Ducky followed after them as Tony smiled fondly at them. 

“You didn’t have to do this,” Laurie shook her head at Tony.  _ Oh, yes I did. Can’t have another me out there resenting Halloween. _

“Well, every kid deserves a happy Halloween.” Tony smiled at her softly, thinking of his past. He hadn’t had his own Tony to make sure he had at least one happy memory at Halloween. So, he would make sure that no one else experience anything bad that he had experienced. 

Ziva and Tim came walking up, “Your husband is awake and asking for you and his daughter.”

“There’s a car waiting for you when you’re ready.”

Laurie smiled at them all, “please let Agent Gibbs know how much I appreciate him keeping his word. And that I’m sorry that I lied to him, but I was… I was just trying to protect-”

Tony glanced up to see Gibbs resting against the railing overlooking the squadroom, the ever present cup of coffee in his hands, “trust me. He knows.” 

He walked back to his desk and made sure all the reports were in order and all the paperwork was filed correctly. He felt anxious about seeing Luna again. She had always been so understanding, knowing what was wrong with him before he himself had known. He hated disappointing her and knew that him leaving without a word had disappointed her. 

_Not unlike how Gibbs had left and treated me._ _Merlin, I’m such a hypocrite._ At that realization he felt something loosen in his chest and he looked back up at Gibbs. He no longer felt anger towards the man, just sadness now. _I miss him._ Gibbs eyes fell to him and he jerked back to his desk and kept plugging away at the paperwork. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony stood before the quiet little cottage. He wore his best suit. His hair done up to the nines. It was supposed to be a costume party. What better costume than the one he had been wearing for the last thirteen years? He felt his heart race in his chest and he wanted nothing more than to run far away from this house.

_Oh, come on! Where the hell did all that Gryffindor bravery go?_ Oh yeah, he focused it towards his job and hid everything else away. _Guess the Sorting Hat was right all those years ago. Maybe I should have been in Slytherin. I find it easy enough to lie to everyone around me._ _Except it’s not easy._ He nervously ran his hand through his hair, messing it up and inadvertently making it stick up like it had in his youth. 

Just as he had finally raised his hand to knock, the door opened. A halo of platinum blonde hair greeted him as a serene smile greeted him, “Hello Harry.”

Her melodic voice broke something in him and before he could think of how it would look to anyone walking by the door, he grabbed her and pulled her into a crushing hug. “I missed you Lu-lu.” He didn’t even notice that his natural accent slipped out. 

“Tony! What the hell are you doing?” McGee called from inside the house, he didn’t even look up to watch the fuzzy blue Probie angrily stalking towards him. 

He let her go and she turned to face McGee, “Tony and I went to school together a long time ago, Tim. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but I had to be sure it was him.” 

McGee was so distracted by Luna’s explanation that he didn’t see the tears in Tony’s eyes as he righted himself. He wiped away the tears that had gathered and smiled brightly as Luna led him into her home. Just before the door shut, a streak of black ran out of the house. 

“Thackery Binks you stay safe out there,” Luna called out after the cat. Tony raised an eyebrow at her. 

She shrugged, “saw a movie, liked the name.” 

Tim rested his arm across her shoulders possessively and stared at Tony. He caught the look, “we never dated, Probie.” 

“No, Tony dated a classmate of mine and nearly married another, but we never dated. Although, you did take me to that Christmas Party that The Slug Club had hosted,” Tony groaned at her mentioning of The Slug Club.

“The Slug Club?” Ziva asked incredulously. She had her arm around the waist of a handsome man with shy brown eyes. “Did you collect Slugs, Tony?”

“No, it was named after the teacher that ran it. His name was Slughorn, he was our chemistry teacher. He liked to  _ collect _ people,” Tony shuddered at the memory of the man who had been obsessed with his fame. 

“What do you mean,  _ collect _ ?” Tony whipped around at Gibbs’ growl and found his mouth had gone dry. Gibbs stood there, at a Halloween costume party, held at Luna Lovegood’s house, and he was dressed in his Dress Blues from his days as a Marine. 

Tony swallowed and tried to get some moisture back into his mouth so his voice didn’t croak. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Luna raise an eyebrow at him and he knew she had figure it out. “He liked to garner favor with famous people or people connected to famous people.” 

“Yeah, you’d fit that category,” Palmer accidentally muttered loud enough for the whole room to hear. Tony saw Luna arch an eyebrow at the Autopsy Gremlin who had dressed himself as the 5th Doctor from  _ Doctor Who _ , complete with celery stalk. 

“What do you mean, Jimmy,” Abby twirled around in her Marilyn costume. 

“W-well, I-I mean,” Jimmy stuttered and thought for a minute, “his dad! His dad’s pretty rich and powerful.” 

Jimmy smiled weakly and Tony held his head in his hand,  _ great way to lie to a room full of investigators, Jimmy. _ He felt an elbow to the ribs and looked down to see Luna smiling up at him, looking as if she were holding back the urge to laugh. 

“It’s okay, Jimmy. The leader of a terrorist cell in Europe had targeted me when I was a kid for whatever reason and the fact that I lived made me known in certain circles. Slughorn had been privy to those circles.” 

The room stared at Tony as if he had grown a second head. “What?!” Came the collective shout from Tim, Abby, and Ziva. Gibbs stared at him in silent shock. Ducky looked at him knowingly and Palmer just hid behind his drink. 

Then came the onslaught of questions, “how did we not know about this? Why didn’t you ever mention this?”

“Guys!” Tony had to shout to make himself heard, “I really don’t like to talk about it, that time in my life kind of sucked so of course it never came up and I never volunteered the information because I just wanted to put it behind me and get on with my life. Then Slughorn comes up and practically kidnaps me into his club. I hated it, okay?!” 

“But, Tony. Why would the leader of a terrorist cell come after  _ you _ ?” Ziva asked, worry in her eyes. 

“The guy’s long dead, Ziva. His followers are either dead with him or in prison, I’m in no danger from him,” Tony avoided the question and answered the worry in her eyes. Luna seemed content to watch him squirm and a glance told him this was her payback for leaving without a word to her. 

“You’re sure,” Gibbs’ voice was carefully blank to all but those that knew him. Tony could hear the worry that laced his voice. 

He looked directly at Gibbs, “yeah, boss. I’m sure. Mutual friend of Mine and Luna’s took care of all of it.” 

Gibbs nodded once, accepting the truth of his words. That wasn’t good enough for the rest though, they kept asking him questions about the  _ Terrorist Cell _ until Luna put a stop to it. 

“Enough, we are here to have a party, not interrogate one another. Now, let’s move on to happier subjects. Dr. Mallard, I heard you were from Scotland.” This launched Ducky into a long subtle description of his years at Hogwarts that had no one but Luna and Tony picking up on the references he made to Sir Nicholas, the Black Lake, the Forbidden Forest, and his classmates, like Minerva McGonagall. 

After that the party seemed to flow smoothly and Tony found himself leaning against a wall watching as his team interacted with Luna. She smiled brightly at them all, her dress, which Tony had not noticed before, reminded him of the Periwinkle dress that Hermione had worn to the Yule Ball during his fourth year. He kept seeing Tim smile down at her and ogling her. It relaxed a part of him to see Tim ogling Luna more than he had ogled Abby. 

“So, a terrorist cell, huh?” Gibbs’ voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“I am a mystery wrapped in an enigma,” Tony said humorlessly as he took a long drink of the firewhiskey in his hand. Luna had given it to him with a smile, she had had her pay back, all was forgiven. 

“Tony,” came a warning growl.

“Really, Gibbs. It’s over, they’re gone. They have no reason to come after Anthony DiNozzo Jr. So, dress blues, really?” He deflected, but didn’t miss the calculating look in his boss’ eye. 

Gibbs shrugged, “something told me I had to impress her.” 

“That same feeling lead you to accept Tim’s invitation?”

A nod was all he got in response. 

It was a while later when Luna came up to him as he leaned against the wall, he had refilled his drink and had continued watching as the team jokingly interrogated Ziva’s date. David, the irony hadn’t been lost on anyone that his name was the same as Ziva’s last name. 

“If I were to ask you to smell some Amortentia, what would you smell, Harry?” She asked him quietly. He had felt her cast a subtle privacy charm around them.

“Sawdust, coffee, and  _ him, _ ” Tony’s eyes hadn’t left Gibbs in a long time and Luna had seen it. 

“I thought as much,” she said as she dropped the spell and walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any one catch the Hocus Pocus reference and why? ;)


	15. Sandblast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one is a long one.

Things fell into a sort of normal for Tony again. Still no dreams with Gibbs, but Luna had dropped by with home cooked meals for the team whenever they had a hard case that kept them from eating regularly. When Gibbs had tried to deny them food in favor of solving the case she had stood at her full height of just a little over five feet tall and argued with him. It had gotten the attention of the entire squadroom that day. 

 

“Agent Gibbs! How do you expect your team to solve the case when they are distracted by the need to eat and sleep properly?” The hardness in her eyes was one that Tony had seen before when he had been obsessed with something at school and hadn’t taken proper care of himself. 

 

“Time they spend eating could be spent on the case,” Gibbs had growled back at her and Tony had wanted nothing more than to crawl under his desk until they were done. 

 

“They can multitask!” her shout had garnered the attention of one Director Jenny Shepard who had come down from the balcony and was standing next to Tony’s desk. 

 

“And who’s this?” she had whispered to him. 

 

“Tim’s girlfriend brought us a casserole, you want some,” Tony had offered, trying to ignore the staredown that was happening in the middle of the bullpen. A glance at Tim showed that the man was absolutely smitten with Luna which was comforting for Tony. Luna deserved someone like Tim, who would love her and accept everything about her. Even when she talked for hours on end about Gnargles and Wrackspurts and other such creatures. 

 

The staredown had lasted until the team had finished wolfing down the food and Luna had wordlessly taken the last piece left in the casserole dish and set it on Gibbs’ desk. She gave him a final pointed look until Gibbs himself had sat down at his desk and took a bite of the food while continuing to stare her down. Once he had taken the bite and nodded once and walked out of the bullpen. 

 

Ever since, whenever Luna had showed up, she had gotten a respectful nod from Gibbs, but he let her do whatever she wanted. If she grabbed Tony for a quick coffee, he barked for them to leave. If she grabbed Tim for a lunch, even if it was in the middle of a case, they went. She had always made it a point to come back with a coffee for Gibbs when they returned and he graced her with a nod of understanding. 

 

One such coffee break, Tony finally told Luna about his dreams that he had once shared with Gibbs and the whole Nathair mess. Granted she had drug it out of him with her usual serene, no-nonsense ‘if you dare try to lie or deflect, you will regret it’ tone of voice. 

 

“Your dreams haven’t been helping you lately,” it wasn’t a question and Tony got the feeling that she knew more about his dreams than he, himself did. 

 

“No,” his shoulders slumped and then everything spilled from him. Not details like the whips and ropes, but the little things. Like how tender and understanding Gibbs was in the dreams, how the older man just seemed to ‘know’ what he needed each night.

 

“Did you revoke him?” the question seemed so simple, yet-

 

“No,” Tony immediately denied until he remembered after Franks’ visit. “Yes, called me  _ his _ to Franks and I- I got angry. I said things, I called him out on his actions during the whole Mexico fiasco.”

 

“Mexico fiasco?”

 

“I know McGeek has told you about that,” Tony gave her a look.

 

She gave him a look that said,  _ yes, but I want to hear your side. _

 

He sighed, “he left, he just left with a ‘you’ll do.’ I get that he was most likely emulating Franks because his head was all screwy and he was trying to find familiar ground, but then he was gone. He was gone and I was left to pick up the pieces of my life that I had built around him. I had gone over to his house to share steaks and movies just about every other week or so. I worked myself to the bone to make sure that not only the case was solved, but so that he would be proud of me.” 

 

She had seen the tears begin to form in his eyes, he knew. Whether they were angry tears or tears of sadness, not even Tony knew. She just placed her hand into his and held it tightly. “Well there’s your answer, Harry. Now the question is do you regret revoking him?” 

 

Tony looked at her through watery eyes,  _ I don’t know. I really don’t know. He left me once, who’s to say he won’t leave me again.  _

 

_ He only left because of his loss of memory, I was the one to bring him out of the coma, I was the one to accelerate his memory returning while he was in Mexico, I just know it. But why? I know I still love him, but could I handle this happening again? No. I don’t think I could survive if this happened again.  _

 

Though his eyes still watered, he wiped his eyes and looked thoughtfully at Luna, “Thanks Lu-lu. You’re right, but I don’t know what I want to do about this information yet.” 

 

After that coffee meeting with Luna, he had kept a watchful eye on Gibbs, which was instinct by now after working for the man for so long. Gibbs seemed to watch him just as much, but it was more like a mystery he was trying to solve. Tony’s anger towards Gibbs slowly cooled to a light simmer, yet he remained so lonely, restless. He knew he had to find an outlet for his darker desires, but it felt wrong to go to anyone but Gibbs for that, so he pushed it from his mind and let the dark beast within him grow restless. 

 

They didn’t have a case that day, yet, but Tony was antsy. He needed an outlet for all his pent up energy. “One and a half teaspoons is not sweet, McGee. I’ve seen my people pour three ounces of sugar into a one-ounce espresso.”  _ Sure, magic had been involved, but Tim didn’t need to know that. _

 

“Your people being Long Islanders? Or would that be the people that sent you to a boarding school in Scotland?” McGee was fishing.  _ Seems Luna hasn’t really talked about Hogwarts. Being called ‘Looney’ Lovegood by her own housemates wouldn’t have made her years any more fun than mine.  _

 

“Romans,” he played the Italian card and placed the magically full container of sugar back in the filing cabinet of supplies, knowing that Tim wouldn’t notice the sugar container in favor of watching him. “Inventors of the grain harvester, the arch, modern plumbing.” 

 

“Plumbing. Every time I flush, I will think of you, Tony. You and your people.”

 

“I’d ask you to explain that, but I really don’t want to know. Did Luna give you the CD she wanted me to listen to?” Ziva asked as she arrived to work. 

 

Tim nodded, “uh, yeah.” He tossed the CD over to her which she caught easily. Ziva, Luna, and Abby apparently shared similar tastes in music and had been swapping CDs ever since Halloween, using Tim as a go-between often enough that CDs flying across the room was a regular occurance. 

 

“And I definitely don’t want to know what you’re doing,” Ziva gestured in Tony’s direction as she put the CD in her bag and took out another. “Here’s the CD she wanted.” 

 

Tim caught the CD tossed his way as Tony responded anyway, “making Cappuccino, Ziva. And educating Probie as to what Italy had contributed to the world. Oration, Italian Cinema, sports cars.”

 

“Gold chains and chest hairs?” Ziva shot back. 

 

Tony ignored her, “and pasta in all its sexy shapes and sizes.” 

 

Ziva hummed, “the chinese invented pasta.”

 

“Communist era propaganda, besides Italians perfected the pasta.” Tim and Ziva rolled their eyes and went back to their respective desks. Gibbs came down and informed them of their new case. Bombing at the Army-Navy club. 

 

***

They arrived and saw men in Army uniforms already processing their crime scene, Tony knew Gibbs would not be happy, “looks like we’re late to the party.”

 

“Assume 100-meter blast radius from the sand trap,” Gibbs barked.

 

“It’s called a bunker, boss, not a sand trap.”  _ Years of listening to Uncle Vernon bitch about his golf game comes in handy to manipulate my boss and the man I’m in love with to direct his anger and frustration at me. Thanks Uncle Vernon. _ A sour look crossed his face for a second with his thoughts. He disguised his sour look by ducking under the ‘do not cross’ tape and didn’t even have to see Gibbs’ face to know that he was getting a certain look. “Blast radius, hundred meters, got it, boss. Probie, you got the woods, I got the far side.” 

 

“Uh,” McGee began before Gibbs turned back and challenged him.    
  


“What, McGee?”

 

“Poison Ivy, boss. I just… I look at the stuff and I break out,” Tony kept walking and couldn’t help his grin as he knew Gibbs shrugged as he spoke. 

 

“Don’t look,”  _ bad advice, boss. _ Tony shook his head and kept walking.

 

He looked thoughtfully at the men crawling around in the grass before he grabbed a handful of the plant and tossed it into the air. He saw and felt the strength and direction of the wind and walked off in the direction his ‘test’ indicated. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Agent Gibbs,” he heard a feminine voice call out as he was just getting settled in to look at their crime scene. He stood and faced the woman that stood before him. “Lieutenant Colonel Hollis Mann, Army CID. I believe your director called.”

 

“She did.” He nodded towards Ziva, “Officer Ziva David.”

 

“Ziva David, yes, I know.” she cut him off from saying anything further. _ There’s two of them now. Two blondes with the cajones to stare him down.  _ “Army Criminal Intelligence Division has excellent intel.”

 

“Good. You can use it to support our investigation,” he started walking away from Mann and he felt her fall into step beside him. Beside him, not behind. She didn’t have the instinct to watch his six. 

 

“Our  _ joint _ investigation. With Army in the lead. This isn’t the Navy-Army Club, it’s the  _ Army _ -Navy Club.” 

 

He nodded, “yeah.” He pointed to their corpse, “ _ that _ is a dead Marine at the Army-Navy club.” He heard Mann sigh exasperatedly behind him as he continued his circuit around the crime scene. 

 

“I had EOD sweep the rest of the sand traps.”

 

“Bunkers,”  _ thank you, DiNozzo.  _

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“They call them bunkers, not sand traps,” he grinned at her cockily. 

 

Mann sighed, “The colonel’s son said he saw what he thought was a spider web in the  _ bunker. _ ”

 

“Trip wire,” Ziva offered as explanation. 

 

Mann turned to Ziva, “possibly. There’s not much to go on with this one. Of course, we’ve got a lot of land to cover.”

 

“18 holes on a golf course.”

 

“Yep, you want to divide them up?”

 

“Sure, we’ll take the crime scene. You and your  _ substantial _ amount of people can take the other 17 holes,” he teased her at the amount of hands she had that would process evidence. He liked his small team. Less people to track down if something was missing or was filed wrong. Less possibilities of contaminated evidence.

 

She smiled up at him, “you’re not taking away my crime scene. End of story. But if you ask nicely, I might just give you the body.”

 

He glanced to the parking area and grinned, “well, I don’t really have to ask, the thing is my ME got here first.” 

 

“Okay,” she quickly conceded and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “If this is going to be a pissing match, you better bring an umbrella.”

 

He scowled annoyedly at Mann until he heard Tony shout in glee, “whoo-oh! Got some good news, boss.” He felt his lips twitch involuntarily upwards at Tony’s exuberance. “Did I miss something?” He heard Tony ask quietly of Ziva. 

 

“Gibbs just found his fourth ex-wife.” Tony scowled for a second before it was quickly covered up by the glee he had been projecting earlier. 

 

“What do you got, DiNozzo?” He knew he practically purred the question to his SFA, but he didn’t care. He kept staring at Mann and knew she had seen the play of emotions across his face at Tony’s return. 

 

“Found this off the next tee,” Tony held up a piece of the bomb in his gloved hand. “It was outside the blast radius. Wind must have carried it. Looks like part of a detonator.”

 

“I checked the neighboring tees myself,” Tony glanced at Mann. Despite the sunglasses, Gibbs could tell that Tony was annoyed at the woman. 

 

“Well, maybe you should have checked the trash cans,” Tony grinned sarcastically at Mann and Gibbs felt himself smile proudly at his SFA. “Looks like a hole in one, boss.” 

 

Gibbs dutifully held up the evidence bag for Tony to drop the detonator piece into, “Nice work.” 

 

“Thanks,” Tony grinned at him and he felt a warmth spread across his chest. 

 

***

They returned to the Navy Yard, Hollis in tow. She seemed to have attached herself to his hip and he really didn’t like it. He much preferred Tony, but he had to admit, there was a sort of charm to her clingy-ness. They walked through the doors of Autopsy to find Ducky mid-conversation with his ‘patient.’

 

“Not nearly as far as you traveled, my friend.”

 

“Is he talking to himself?” Mann asked him. 

 

He smirked over at her, “the body.” 

 

“Ah. Colonel, your CO just called. Requested copies of my autopsy report.” Ducky turned and faced Gibbs with a curt nod, “Gibbs.” He turned right back to Mann.  _ Ducky’s still mad at me, joy. _

 

“The report?” Gibbs asked when the man didn’t seem inclined to talk without further prompting. 

 

“Yeah, well, the cause of death appears to be just what you see here. Explosive dismemberment.” 

 

“Yeah, got that part.” Gibbs supplied. 

 

“What we don’t have are traceable fragments from that explosion.” Mann prompted for Ducky.

 

The older man nodded understandingly, “Yes, Abby was complaining about the dearth of physical evidence from the crime scene.” Ducky glanced down at the body, “present company excepted, of course.” 

 

“Bombshell was plastic,” Gibbs prompted, hoping that Ducky had found fragments of the plastic casing in their dead Marine.

 

“Which means the fragments disintegrated.”

 

“Yes, but luckily for you, not all of them. As the ancients soon discovered, fire and water do not mix. The human body is over two-thirds water.” Ducky made his way over to his side table where he picked up the evidence container holding the fragments they had hoped to find. “Some of the burning fragments were cooled by the interstitial liquid in the Colonel’s tissue before they could disintegrate.” 

 

Gibbs glanced between Mann and Ducky, “get that to Abby.” He said as gently as he could at that moment before he walked off with Mann holding the container. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony had pulled the oh so lucky straw as to interview the dead Colonel’s son. “I can’t believe he’s gone.” 

 

The pain he heard in Josh’s voice reminded him of how he had felt at fifteen, having just watched his godfather pass through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries. He swallowed past his own ache of grief that lingered and listened to the kid.

 

“It’s like I hear myself say that, but I know it’s a stupid thing to say.” 

 

“It’s not stupid, Josh.” _ It’s not like you inadvertently led your father to come rescue you when you thought you were heading off into danger to rescue him.  _

 

“If you told me he was still alive, that what I saw was a trick...I think I’d believe you.”  _ yeah, I remember that feeling too.  _

 

Tony looked thoughtfully at the kid, “look, maybe we should finish this tomorrow.” 

 

“No,” kid started shaking his head, “I’ll be at Princeton tomorrow. Dad wouldn’t want me to miss my first day of classes.” 

 

Tony bit the inside of his cheek, “Okay.”  _ I can respect that. _ “You saw a spider web in the bunker, you said?”

 

“Yeah, at least I thought so. Until my dad hit it. I should have said something.” Josh seemed to be beating himself up about it as much as Tony had beat himself up over Sirius. 

 

Unlike him however, “there was nothing you could have done.” 

 

“That’s another one of those stupid things people say.”  _ Kid wants to banter, okay.  _

 

Tony nodded his head to the side, “well, I got a million of them. You should ask my coworkers, they’ll tell you.”

 

“Okay,” the kid sighed, “what else you got?” 

 

“Everything happens for a reason.” he winced a smile. 

 

“Yeah, that would have really pissed me off.” A challenging glint entered the kid’s eye, “but you can do better.” 

 

He fell into his Christopher Walken, “When your time is up… your time is up.”

 

“Hope you got more skills than that.”  _ Ah, a smart ass, okay. _

 

“In the immortal words of Elvis Costello, ‘oh, accidents will happen.’” He grinned at the end. 

 

The kid exhaled a reluctant laugh, “Oh, yeah. I probably would have stuck my first through your skull if you had said that.” Kid smirked at him.  _ Mission accomplished.  _

 

“Eh, I got a hard head,” Tony shrugged and went back to his notes. 

 

“Except this wasn’t an accident, was it?” 

 

He looked sharply over at the kid and replied honestly, “no.” 

 

“And I thought we were fighting them over there so we didn’t have to fight them over here.” Kid looked thoughtfully over to the window, “maybe they need some more help, huh?”

 

“Look, you just focus on Princeton. We’ll find who did this.”

 

“Like you found Bin Laden?” 

 

Kid was at the anger stage of grief, but Tony didn’t like his skills coming into question. “My team wasn’t assigned to find Bin Laden.  _ We _ will find who did this. Don’t believe me, ask about MCRT close rate.” He raised a challenging eyebrow at the kid and saw the kid look at him thoughtfully.

 

***

He came up from the conference room interview with the kid to see Mann manhandling Gibbs’ team, but Gibbs was nowhere in sight. She had McGee zoom in on a picture. “You can read the entire license plate.”

 

“I’ll update the BOLO,” Ziva volunteered. 

 

“BOLO for what?” Tony asked as he came walking up. 

 

“Well, we cleared the course, we vetted everyone as they left, but we don’t have any record of this ‘99 Toyota leaving. The owner’s a greenskeeper at the club,” Mann updated him and walked to his desk as he sat down. Tony kept his face blank, even as he chanted in his head,  _ go away.  _

 

“He must have used an old service entrance and snuck out before we covered them all,” McGee continued the explanation. 

 

“Nice catch, McGee,” Tony was quick to think that his team had found the lead, not Mann. 

 

“Ah, no, it’s  _ my _ catch,” she smiled down at him patronizingly before walking off, “let’s see if we can get an address on this.” 

 

He scowled openly and mouthed, “my catch.” mockingly for a second before his picked up his phone, doubting that Ziva and McGee would have thought to inform their boss about the latest lead. 

 

“Yeah, Gibbs.” Bossman answered. 

 

“Hey, boss, DiNozzo here.” There was a pause before he heard his boss’ voice, but not from inside the phone. 

 

“Hey, DiNozzo!” He looked up and up until his chair leaned back and he was looking at his boss standing on the balcony with Jenny. He saw Gibbs’ jaw clench at the sight of his exposed neck. He inwardly both preened and tried to push away the feeling. He cursed himself, he had just fed the dark beast within that craved submission. 

 

Tony waved off the moment with an innocent chuckle as he placed his phone back in it’s cradle, “hey, that’s weird, ‘cause I- I thought you were still in MTAC.”

 

“What do you want?” Gibbs barked. 

 

“Um, we-”

 

“Just found an unaccounted for vehicle from the Army-Navy Club.” Mann interrupted him and he scowled for a second before he turned back to his desk and grabbed his gear when they had found the car. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs drove like he normally did, with DiNozzo in the front seat beside him. Mann was in the back seat and a part of him felt satisfied that she had been forced to sit in the back seat. They arrived and saw Army CID manipulating a man into a CID vehicle. 

 

“DiNozzo.” He gestured at the man and knew that DiNozzo would know what he wanted.

 

“He’s already in CID custody, Agent Gibbs. My people can handle the interrogation,” Mann informed them, Tony was unsure and looked questioningly to Gibbs. 

 

Gibbs looked back at him expectantly, he did a subtle thumb jab in the direction of the suspect. “What are you doing?”  _ I already told you what I wanted you to do.  _ Tony rolled his hands and took off in the direction of the suspect, leaving him alone with Mann. 

 

“Divorced, right?”

 

“Three times,”  _ but never again.  _ He looked on and watched as Army CID personnel searched around the car in question.

 

“Only three?” She asked, incredulous. “Well, I’ll be sure to let my superiors know how you assisted.”  _ Yeah, but I get the feeling that this is going to lead nowhere. _

 

“Stand clear!” one of her men shouted. 

 

Gibbs watched, unimpressed when the trunk opened and not only didn’t explode, like he expected, but was full of a giant brick of Marijuana. Mann sighed, “okay, drugs. Doesn’t mean he didn’t plant the bomb.” 

 

GIbbs chuckled, “you can have that interrogation.”  _ Anyone with that much weed in his trunk, more than likely not going to be blowing people up. Not a stoner’s MO.  _ “I’ll look for who did.” 

 

***

That night, Gibbs worked on his boat. He was nearly finished with it and was painting the name on the side. He sighed as he heard Mann’s voice call out through the house, “Agent Gibbs. I- I’ve been ringing your doorbell for the last three minutes.”

 

_ Oh, was that what that was?  _ He sat down on his stool and carefully got to work, “yeah, I’ve been meaning to fix that.”

 

“Well, the door was unlocked, so…”

 

“So this would be trespassing, not breaking and entering.”

 

“Uh-huh,” he heard her reach the bottom of the stairs and he cast a quick glance to the space under the stairs. He felt secure that the posts he had made while he waited for the chemicals to dry on his boat were hidden completely in the shadows. 

 

“‘Kelly’?” She asked curiously. His jaw clenched at her curiosity, he didn’t want her here asking about Kelly. He didn’t want her here.

 

“Is there a reason you’re trespassing,” he made it a point to keep any sort of growl out of his voice, he had to work with her.  _ Hmm, maybe I can pull a DiNozzo and flirt a little to get more information than she expected to give.  _

 

“This is a joint investigation. I thought we could share some information.” He glanced up to her and saw the lust in her eyes.  _ I can work with that. _

 

“Beer?” 

 

She looked at him like he had gone mad, “beer? Uh.” 

 

He used his tool to point over to the counter space. She looked over and nodded, “Sure.” 

 

_ How hard was it to figure out I was offering it to her, ugh. _

 

“I got the results on the swabs from the Toyota. There were traces of diesel fuel and, uh, fertilizer,” he heard the beer open and he bent over the name he was painting so that she could get a solid look at his ass,  _ fuel that lust and she won’t be thinking defensively _ . “Same thing that McVeigh used to, uh…” at her pause, Gibbs grinned,  _ gotcha. _ “Blow up the Federal Building in Oklahoma.”

 

“Yeah. Guy driving the Toyota was a greenskeeper.”

 

He knew she was running her hands across his boat as she approached him. “I know. He’s around fertilizer and diesel fuel all day. It was a bad lead.”  _ Knew that. _ “Anything you’d like to share?”

 

“I got some sardines upstairs,”  _ go with that fishy smell that is all over this _ . 

 

“I meant about the case. But then, you knew that.” She walked behind him and if he were a dog his hackles would be raised at having her behind him, in his blind spot. She snapped her fingers, “girlfriend.” He suppressed a shudder at the thought. Not only would he never name a boat after a girlfriend, but Kelly was his daughter. He stopped and rested his hand on his knee, annoyed.. “Is, uh, Kelly your… your girlfriend?” 

 

He didn’t say a word, but shook his head solemnly at her. 

 

She nodded and looked away, “okay… look, CID Intel did a profile on you for me. I know you flaunt authority, especially in front of a female.”  _ No, I just don’t like you encroaching on my territory.  _

 

“A female write that, too?” 

 

“Yep. She also wrote you were a sniper, a good one, but your eyesight’s shot, you’re injury-prone, if not in a state of near death-wish fulfillment, and though you’re pressured and impatient, you’re also passionate and loyal, in spite of the fact that you don’t trust anyone.” She reached out to pick at the boat. His hand quickly closed around hers and he knew that she had done it on purpose. “You are gonna have to trust me.” 

 

“I do trust people,  _ my  _ people, DiNozzo for one,” and he did trust Tony, despite the  _ magic _ that Tony revealed to him. “Is there anything I should know about you before we get involved?” 

 

She gave him an incredulous look that even she didn’t believe, “involved?”

 

“In the case,” he clarified. 

 

“You can have NCIS Intel do a profile on me, if you’d like.” She offered.  _ Pbbth like they would tell me anything I haven’t learned about you already, Mann.  _

 

“Oh, I could.” He sat back down on his seat, “But I like surprises.”  _ Sometimes, mostly I like Domination, but I can already tell you won’t go for that _ . 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony sat across from her, she had asked him on the date,  _ well, not really a date, per se. More of a study session. _ “This hypothesis states that the fate of transplanted embryonic cells is independent of their new position in the embryo.” 

 

Her blue-grey eyes kept him from falling for her charm, her eyes were too close, yet not quite Gibbs’ color that they both drew him in and pushed him away. “The Mosaic Hypothesis.”

 

“I’m sorry, I’m going to need the complete answer.” He joked with her, he had made it a part of him helping her study that he made it a game, Jeopardy.

 

“ _ What _ is the Mosaic Hypothesis.” She sighed and then grinned at him as she spread her hands out. 

 

“Correct,” he told her in his best showman’s voice as he closed the computer. “Hot and smart. The female version of me.”

 

“Oh!” She teased him back, “so you think I’m ready for the exam tomorrow?”

 

“Oh, I have 20 bucks saying that you’re gonna set the curve.”

 

“Okay, that’s good to hear. Because, uh, that means it’s my turn to ask you some questions.” 

 

He grinned charmingly at her, “Fire away.”

 

“All right, how’s a, uh, kind of cute, definitely charming guy like you who does some pretty bad impersonations…” She started chuckling and he brought out his Walken.

 

“I don’t know what that means, but I thank you.” She laughed at him and he grinned charmingly.

 

“...manage to stay single for so long, other than the relationship that, in your words, ‘crashed and burned spectacularly’?” She grinned innocently at him.

 

“Oh, you’re-you’re gonna ask a real question? That’s a real question.”  _ Play the clown, again. _

 

“Well, yeah.”

 

“Um… What are commitment issues?” 

 

She laughed at that, “nu-uh, not buying it.” She shook her head as she kept that smile plastered to her face. 

 

“Really?”

 

“Mm-mm.”

 

“And why is that?”  _ No way she saw through me already.  _

 

She set her coffee down and she looked at him intently, “in the last hour…”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“At least a dozen hot coeds have waked by. Your eyes haven’t wandered once.”  _ Shit. _

 

He started looking around with a confused expression on his face, “really? Well, obviously, yours have.” He grinned lecherously at her and she started a full belly laugh. 

 

“Don’t get your hopes up.” She waved her hands as if to wave away the thought, “I’m a very, um, traditional girl.”  _ Yeah, I know. No hope of chains or whips exciting you. _

 

“Well, so was Anne Heche.” Referencing Ellen’s ex. She just chuckled at him.

 

“You still haven’t answered my question, Tony.”

 

“Okay,” he thought for a minute. “Okay. Well… I suppose that I am patiently waiting to find the right one.”

 

“You think you’ll ever find her?” The words of her question told him that she hadn’t caught his hint. One had no gender designations. 

 

“I’m getting more and more confident by the day.”  _ Yeah, I already found him. Then he got himself blown up and ran off to Mexico. Now I don’t know if my love for him is enough.  _

 

***

The next day at work he stared at the pictures of the crime scene of the golf course when Tim’s actions caught his eye. He looked to his left and pulled out his phone and quickly took a video. “Ah, and to think people once questioned the need for a video camera in a cell phone.”

 

He waved the video in Tim’s face before grinning and running over to Ziva to share his newfound joy. “Tony!” 

 

“Wait till you see this,” he told the Mossad Officer next to him. “Any ideas?”

 

Ziva chuckled a little, “he’s definitely not making cappuccino.”

 

“There’s no way he’s got an STD, unless he’s cheating on Lu-lu, then I’d have to kill him.”

 

“I was itching. It’s poison ivy and it’s spreading, okay?”  _ I know. _ Tony grinned as he teased his Probie.

 

“This is your second tango with the vicious weed, McGee. Maybe you ought to learn what that stuff looks like.”

 

“And avoid it.”

 

“I thought I did.” He groaned uncomfortably, “this is killing me. When Gibbs told me to check out the forest,” Tony saw Gibbs round the corner and quickly put his phone away. “I should have just told him-”   
  
“Tell me what, McGee?” 

 

“No,” Tony took a moment to be proud of his Probie and the obvious confidence that being with Luna gave him. 

 

“Well, that probably would have been a good idea. Baking soda and Vinegar- you make a paste, slop it on.” Gibbs told the younger agent.

 

“Okay, thank you. Thank you, boss.” McGee made as if to get up,  _ that wasn’t an invitation to go make some, Probie. _ Tony kept his thoughts to himself. 

 

“Not now, McGee.” Gibbs didn’t even look in the direction of the Probie. “After we catch the terrorists.”

 

McGee groaned, “that could be a while. All the club guests check out. Local LEOs report no unusual activity in the area.” 

 

“DiNozzo?” Gibbs called out as the elevator dinged and Luna walked out with her normal escort. 

 

“I’ve gone through the last month of the club’s video surveillance. If the terrorist cell was casing the joint, they hid their tracks pretty well. Hey Lunes. Middle of a case, terrorists.” 

 

She smiled serenely at them all before walking over to McGee’s desk and put a jar of some kind of cream on his desk. “You should have called me about this, Tim. I could have helped last night. Now go to the bathroom and put that cream on, then put it on again in four hours. You’ll make sure he does, right Gibbs?”

 

Gibbs cleared his throat, “yeah, sure. Five minutes, McGee.” 

 

Tim dashed off to the bathroom and Luna opened the bag she held and began placing containers of food on all their desks. Gibbs ignored her as he turned to Ziva. “your contact at Interpol?”

 

“Uh, said there was almost no uptick in chatter prior to the explosion,” Ziva nodded her thanks to Luna. 

 

“They could be homegrown bad boys, boss.” Tony offered. 

 

Luna cocked her head to the side for a moment, “still there would have been an uptick in chatter. Terrorists like to brag. Spread terror. Metuska like to be around them.” 

 

Gibbs looked to Luna thoughtfully, “what are-”

 

Tony put a hand on Gibbs mouth, “don’t ask. You won’t like the answer and it won’t help us find them.” 

 

Luna just looked at them all serenely and smiled as Tim came back out of the bathroom. “Thanks, Lunes. I feel much better now,” he gave her a quick kiss to the temple and she flowed out of the room and was gone. “Tony, why do you have your hand on Gibbs’ mouth?”

 

Tony pulled away his hand as if burned and sat at his desk, “no reason, Probie. Let’s just find these guys.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Gibbs waited to enter MTAC he thought to Luna’s visit and Tony’s reaction.  _ Metuska are probably magical creatures, but why would Tony say he wouldn’t like the answer? Are they not commonly seen? Is that why it wouldn’t help us find them? _ Finally he was let into MTAC and saw that the screen was at it’s base. “Change the locks on me?”

 

“Threat level Orange, remember? We’re on lockdown.”  _ Didn’t stop Luna from coming in and turning my team on it’s head, again. _ “Unless you have some good news for me.”

 

“All I’ve got is 300 wasted man-hours. We’re looking in the wrong direction.”

 

“Well, I might be able to point you in the right one. Danielle?” Jenny called out and the tech pushed some buttons and three pictures showed up on the screen. “This just came from the CIA regarding the golf course bombing.” She handed him a file and he quickly read through it.

 

“A suspected homegrown terrorist cell? Suspected? By who?” 

 

“A CIA informant.” 

 

“Why are we just hearing about this now?” He yelled angrily at her.

 

“Unfortunately, probably the same reason why we didn’t hear about those flying lessons until after 9/11. I’ve informed Army CID as well. Colonel Mann will meet you on-site.” It was a clear dismissal and Gibbs was angry. He knew he needed someone who could take what he dished out, but it would have to wait until after the case was solved.

 

***

He pulled up to see Mann was already directing her men around the warehouse. “CID beat us to the punch again. That’s twice in one week.”

 

“I didn’t know this was a race, DiNozzo.”

 

“Oh, no, it’s not- I’m just not used to these joint efforts.” He knew DiNozzo had stopped at the front of the car and he made his way over to where Mann was. 

 

“Oh, glad to see you finally made it. To be honest, I thought you’d beat me here and head in without me.” He heard when Tony had caught up with them.

 

“Thought you said I was the one with trust issues,” Gibbs smirked at her as they walked in and cleared the building. ‘Death to America’ was plastered across the walls. “Oh, that’s original.”

 

“Metro subway maps, national monuments, bridge blueprints,” Mann listed off what else was on the walls.”

 

“Potential targets,” Ziva calls out the reason, but he notices her gaze stop on the ceiling. He saw Tony look up as well. 

 

“They sure as hell weren’t sightseeing,” Gibbs didn’t bother looking up, knowing they would tell him soon.

 

“Uh, I think I know who their target is, boss. Us.” Tony pointed up at the ceiling where Gibbs saw four canisters hooked up to a cell phone. 

 

“Alright, secure the building now!” Mann shouted at her men who ran to obey. 

 

“Ziva, Tony, out the back door! No one in until EOD gets here.”  _ If Tony thinks he could have protected me back on that Turkish boat, then we’ll see how he does with Ziva.  _ He quickly left and shut the door behind him. 

 

***

He was right, Ziva had disarmed the bomb and Tony had gone with her. “The bomb was set to go off when the cell was called.”

 

“It’s prepaid and disposable. Never been used,” Ziva continued after Tony.

 

“So there’s no call log,” he felt the beginnings of hunger begin to pang at him and he heard the elevator door ding and a familiar musical laugh came from there as Luna once again came and brought them all food. 

 

“Thanks to our bomb-disposal expert, we still have plenty to work with. Hey Lu-lu,” Tony smiled brightly and directed her past Mann and to his desk where she sat comfortably and began pulling out their favorite chinese dishes. 

 

“Looks like two or three people were staying there. Luna,” Ziva greeted her with a smile.

 

“Abby’s processing it,” Tony walked behind them and got Tim’s attention and directed the man away from his computer to greet his girlfriend. 

 

“Nice job, Ziva. You do anything like that ever again, I’ll kick your ass back to Israel,” Gibbs grabbed his food and went to his desk.

 

Luna looked serenely at them all as Mann came walking back to their circle of desks, “CIA refuses to let us talk to their source directly.” Mann informed him. He saw Ziva grab her food and head to her desk. Tony hovered over the couple that had taken over his desk as he picked up his own food and began to eat. 

 

“He won’t tell you the truth,” Luna said suddenly. She was looking directly at Gibbs. “Trust the hungry man, he will tell you the truth.” 

 

Gibbs looked to Tony to see his eyes riveted to Luna and swallowed thickly. Mann interrupted the moment, “I’m sorry, who are you.” 

 

Luna’s serene gaze moved from him to Mann and he saw her eyes harden, “I am Luna. You are a trespasser.” 

 

Mann raised an eyebrow at her, “excuse me?” 

 

“Tony, would you escort me out of here. Afterall it is you she’s trespassing against,” Gibbs saw Tony wince at Luna’s words. Mann watched in shock as Tony gently led Luna over the the elevator and was surprised when he got onto the elevator with her. 

 

“What was all that about,” Mann looked to McGee questioningly.

 

Tim shrugged, “I’ve learned not to question her. She likes to speak in riddles like that, they usually make sense after the fact, but I’ve learned to just go with it when Luna’s involved.” 

 

Mann looked at Tim thoughtfully before she turned to Gibbs, “We have no idea what the source actually said.”

 

“Oh, McGee?” Gibbs called.

 

“Right, before Luna came I was almost there,” McGee moved back to his desk as Mann spoke again. 

 

“Wait, you’re not hacking the CIA?”

 

McGee sat back down at his computer and did a double take at his computer. “I’m in? And no, Homeland Security. They post a redundant CIA archive.”

 

“Alright, my superiors are not going to like this.”  _ What they don’t know, won’t hurt ‘em. _

 

“Don’t tell ‘em.”

 

“Smart and devious, that’s a dangerous combination.” Mann shook her head at him.

 

Tony came back as he smiled flirtatiously at her, “you forgot ‘charming’.”

 

He saw Tony pointedly look away from them as McGee stared at them in shock.

 

“No, I didn’t.” 

 

McGee cleared his throat and began rattling off information nervously, “Informant’s name is Mamoun Sharif. Native of Lebanon. Arrested in Beirut, for extortion, cooperated with Interpol. Helped break a stolen weapons ring on one of our bases in Turkey. CIA moved him to the states. Been on retainer ever since. Has a small convenience store in Rosslyn, Virginia.” He wrote down the address and Gibbs was already up and snatching the address out of McGee’s hand.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Luna’s serene gaze moved from Gibbs to Mann and Tony saw her eyes harden, “I am Luna. You are a trespasser.” 

 

Mann raised an eyebrow at her, “excuse me?” 

 

“Tony, would you escort me out of here. Afterall it is you she’s trespassing against,” Tony winced at Luna’s words, but moved to escort her out of the building. He gently led her over to the elevator and followed her onto it. 

 

“Luna-”

 

“Harry, she has  Inclecebra all over her and they are reaching for Gibbs. Your Gibbs.” 

 

“Luna-”

 

“I know you think you rejected him, but a part of him is still reaching for you.” 

 

Tony slammed his hand on the emergency stop on the elevator and looked to Luna, the pain and loneliness shining in his eyes. “I let him go, I told him to find love. Even if it wasn’t with me. If he finds happiness with Hollis Mann, then I’m not going to stop it.” 

 

Her hand rested on his cheek and her thumb wiped at a stray tear,  _ damnit! Why do I keep crying? _

 

“You love him. Truly,” her tone wasn’t shocked. It was understanding. “Fine, I will be nice to her if she sticks around, but Tony- Harry.” She looked at him pointedly. “Just remember what James told you.”

 

_ … before you know it time will have gone by and you’ll find that while it’d be good if he came back, you’re okay without him too. _

 

He heard Jimmy’s voice in his head. He nodded his head, her hand moving with his head, still resting on his cheek. 

 

“You’re okay without him too,” Luna whispered. Tony started the elevator again and walked her out of the building. Her parting words made him laugh, “I still don’t like her trespassing on your territory.” 

 

He walked back to the elevator and rode it up with a smile on his face. A smile that lasted until he got back into the bullpen and saw Gibbs smiling flirtatiously at Mann. “You forgot ‘charming’.”

 

Tony pointedly looked away and sat at his desk. 

 

“No, I didn’t.” came her teasing sing-songy reply. 

 

_ You’re okay without him too. You’re okay without him too. You’re okay without him too. Maybe if I tell myself that enough times, it’ll be true. Think about Jeanne, think about anything but Gibbs and Mann being together.  _

 

“You bring anything other than ACUs?” Gibbs and Mann took off without calling for the team and Tony kept his gaze locked on his computer.

 

“Would you like me to wear a dress?” She flirted back. 

 

He knew McGee and Ziva were looking to him for explanation as to why Gibbs didn’t call for them to follow. Instead he started searching online for a place that would suit his needs. He knew he would need to let go and needed to find a place to do so. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

They arrived to see Sharif at the back door, berating a homeless man, “so don’t let me catch you.” 

 

“Thank you,” they heard the gratitude in the darker man’s voice as he took the packaged sandwich. 

 

“It still comes out of your pocket, doesn’t it?” Gibbs asked pointedly, Luna’s words flowing through his mind.  _ He won’t tell you the truth. Trust the hungry man, he will tell you the truth. _

 

“Yes, but where I was born, it is a sin to turn away a hungry man. Now what can I help you with.”  _ Was this the man that won’t tell the truth? _

 

Then Mann had to get him all panicky, “Lieutenant Colonel Hollis Mann, Army CID.” She even raised her badge.

 

“Put that away!” He sure sounded panicked. 

 

“We have a couple of questions for you about a recent tip you gave the CIA,” Mann continued. 

 

Sharif looked between them as if they were about to be responsible for his death. If he was lying to them, he was a really good one. “Are you trying to get me killed?! You can’t contact me here!”

 

“We understand the need for confidentiality,” Mann comforted.

 

“Just want to know how you heard about the warehouse,” Gibbs kept his voice even as he gauged Sharif’s response. 

 

“Who am I talking to,” he glanced between them and they both answered at the same time. 

 

“Me,” Gibbs wanted to shove Mann out of this, she wasn’t heeding Luna’s warning. She wasn’t wary of Sharif. She was believing every word that came out of his mouth. If Gibbs were honest with himself, if it weren’t for Luna’s warning, he would have trusted Sharif too. 

 

“I hear things, okay? In the mosque, in the store, on the street.”

 

“Names,”  _ if Luna’s right, he won’t give any.  _

 

“Forget it. I hear things from people who hear things; innocent people. Names I will not give.”  _ Fair enough explanation, but I agree with Luna. He’s not telling the truth.  _ “I know what happens nowadays. I am taking a big enough risk myself talking to your CIA.”

 

“Which you’re well compensated for,” Mann reminded him.

 

“We all have to make a living,” Gibbs nonchalantly looked at some shampoo that was on the shelf before his hand whipped out and grabbed the gun Sharif had on him. 

 

“.38 Super Auto Colt.” 

 

“It’s a bad neighborhood,” Sharif’s eyes held suspicion towards Gibbs. 

 

“You got a license?” Gibbs asked innocently, keeping his inner thoughts to himself. 

 

“Okay, your country has been good to me. The man I heard talking in my store about the golf course two days ago buying Ring Dings…” He pulled a security tape out of a drawer, “I’m not so sure he was one of those innocent people,” he carefully handed them the security tape and Gibbs gently took it from him.

 

“Why,” Mann asked. 

 

“Because of what he called the golf course.” He paused dramatically and in Gibbs’ mind, that sealed it. Sharif was involved, how involved, he didn’t know, but he would be keeping an eye on this not-so-innocent shopkeeper. “‘The Beginning’.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony leaned against his car casually, he just couldn’t deal with watching Gibbs continue to fawn all over Mann. Sure, he had let the guy go, but that didn’t mean he wanted to watch Gibbs move on right in front of him. He was mulling over Gibbs and Mann’s interactions when his phone rang. 

 

“McGee?” he growled, he really wasn’t in the mood. 

 

“You’re not really with a doctor, are you, Tony?” McGee accused. 

 

Tony grinned, “As a matter of fact, I am.”  _ Not a lie.  _

 

“Well, Gibbs keeps looking at your desk and his watch.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes, “tell him I’ll be right there.” A part of him did feel bad for blowing off work to, well, work. He was just tired of watching Mann manhandle Gibbs’ team and Gibbs not doing anything about it. 

 

“You okay?” Tim asked concerned. 

 

“I  _ was _ fine,” he hung up as he watched Jeanne continue her walk back into the hospital. She had given him flak for watching her walk into the destination he dropped her off at, till a snake had tried to attack her on her own front lawn. Luckily Tony had been there to save the day and had used magic to make her not hear him as he had talked to the snake. Ever since she hadn’t begrudged watching her walk into her destination. He had made it a point to thank that snake for making his job a little bit easier. 

 

However, just as he was on his way back to HQ, Josh’s mom called him to come and talk to her son about going to Princeton instead of joining the Marines. He didn’t want the kid to throw his life away over vengeance and that’s the mindset the kid was entering the Marines under and that would just get him killed. 

 

He leaned in the doorway of the kid’s bedroom, “shouldn’t you be packing?”

 

Josh glanced back at the doorway as soft jazz filled the kid’s bedroom, “my mom called you didn’t she?” Tony just side nodded his head as if to say,  _ Yeah. _ “what did she tell you?”

 

“That you’re not going to Princeton.”

 

“She’s right,” kid was angry again, that spirit of vengeance had a pretty firm grip on the kid. A part of him was grateful, looking back, that he hadn’t had the option to even be aware of what was going on in the wizarding world after Sirius had died. It had given him a few months to grieve, albeit silently. 

 

“Coltrane,” he had been lucky that Dudley had taken a shine to Queen that month. He was sure that Sirius had been a fan of the Squib band. At least, that’s what he had told himself that summer. Sirius had been the ultimate rebel from his  _ Pureblood _ family values, there’s no way Sirius wasn’t a fan of Queen. “Wouldn’t have really pegged you for a jazz man, Josh.”

 

“My dad played Coltrane and Miles Davis every Sunday for as long as I can remember. The same albums over and over. Used to drive me nuts,” Josh had a bittersweet smile on his face as he picked up another magazine. 

 

“Well, military man set in his routines.”  _ Routines that I’m willing to bet you continued when he was deployed and those albums didn’t quite bother you so much. _

 

“The funny thing is, the first time he was deployed, I found myself playing those same albums. Next thing I knew, he was home and we were listening together.”

 

“I know this is a difficult time for you,” he began. 

 

Josh got up and stormed over to the music and turned it down, “if you’re here to talk me out of joining the Marines…” Josh cut himself off and let Tony answer the accusation.

 

“I would never talk someone out of joining the Corps. It’s an honor to serve your country,” Tony nodded at him seriously.

 

“Good. Glad that’s settled.” Josh defensively crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared Tony down.

 

Tony pulled his lips back and swayed his head side to side, “I would ask one question, though. What’s the big rush?”

 

“You know what? You’re probably right. I should wait a little longer. What’s a few more dead Colonels?”

 

“I understand that you’re pissed off-”

 

“Pissed off?! They killed my dad! How would you feel?!” Josh shouted at him.

 

“Felt angry, so angry I couldn’t see straight most days. But I was pulled away from the situation, forced me to see the bigger picture. I realized I wanted justice. But you’re looking for revenge,” he knew power flashed in his eyes, but he felt himself start to fracture. 

 

“Y-your-?” Josh looked at him confused.

 

“No, but the man who was the closest thing I had to a father died right before my eyes and I was pulled back so I wouldn’t go after his killer. Looking back, I know that his killer would have killed me without even breaking a sweat because I was fueled by revenge. You know what happened to her? She was killed by a mother protecting her daughter. Justice. My father figure’s killer was killed by a mother. Best justice I could have gotten. There is a right time and a right place. And this is not the time. Not for you.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs let Mann exit the elevator before him, he didn’t trust her at his back, instinctually. He had been slowly gravitating towards letting her in front of him so that he could keep better eyes on her. She felt like a coyote, trying to trick him into giving her more information than he wanted to give her. He didn’t like it.

 

He walked up to the bullpen and saw Tony’s desk was empty, he didn’t like that either. He handed the tape to McGee, “get this to Abby. ID on anyone buying a Slurpy.” He scanned the rest of the squadroom and saw Tony wasn’t anywhere in the room, “Where’s DiNozzo?”

 

“Uh, had a doctor’s appointment,” McGee informed him.

 

“I want him on that grocery store.” Gibbs walked off to get a coffee. 

 

“He said he’d be back ASAP.”

 

_ He better have a damn near fatal disease. _ Gibbs felt a twinge of fear at that thought.  _ Why? _

 

***

He had snuck out to grab some food for him and Mann, _ time to butter up the coyote _ . He walked behind DiNozzo’s desk and pushed that chair over to where Mann was clicking through crime scene photos. She turned to face him, clicker in hand, “When did you leave?”

 

He shrugged and she chuckled, “Well, I’m a cheap date.”

 

Something niggled at him again,  _ Nathair would not tolerate this as a date, nor would I want him to.  _ “This is a date?”

 

“It’s a figure of speech, Agent Gibbs,” they each grabbed and prepared their chopsticks.

 

“So, I got the food. Did you solve the case?” He did like bantering with someone and since Tony wasn’t here, he knew Mann would be up to the challenge. 

 

She hummed noncommittally, “I was about to, till you broke my concentration.” she opened her box and traded it for his when he offered it.

 

“That easy to break, huh?” 

 

“When I’m hungry,” she smugly took her bite and ate as he picked out the random bits of noodle that was over seasoned. Tony loved those pieces, he hated them. It had been about a year after Tony first started before the SFA would teasingly steal the over flavored noodles. The first time Tony had done it, Gibbs had been too shocked to comprehend what had happened. Then it had happened again and he had teased Tony about not getting enough flavor in his own food. Tony had just grinned at him and said he didn’t like to waste food. It was later on that he had found out that he loved over-flavored foods due to bland leftovers he had eaten as a child. 

 

“I thought I was close to a break,” she continued to talk as she placed some over-flavored noodles of her own on the extra plate between them. “But now, I’ve got more questions than answers. And Colonel Cooper, was he specifically targeted?”   
  


“No way to know who’d be in the bunker,” Gibbs told her. It was too random.

 

“Okay, so the target is random which says ‘terrorist attack.’ Except the explosive was not designed to kill,” Mann shook her head as she took another bite.

 

“The guy in the morgue would probably disagree with that,” he bantered sarcastically.

 

“No, I mean, if the terrorists had packed the bomb full of shrapnel like they usually do, then the son would be dead, too.” 

 

“And make the bomb easier to detect,” her talking had sparked an idea in his head.  _ She’s clever, I’ll give her that. _

 

“Which means the terrorists’ priority’s clearly to avoid detection.”

 

“Explains the lack of chatter.” 

 

“So if you’re that busy covering your tracks, why do you write ‘Death to America’ all over your hideout?” she nodded to the crime scene picture she had stopped at.

 

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her in thought,  _ Sharif gave us the intel about that hideout.  _ Luna’s warnings came to his mind.

 

_ He won’t tell you the truth. _

 

_ Trust the hungry man, he will tell you the truth. _

 

_ You are a trespasser. _

 

He continued to look thoughtfully at the woman before him, Luna had called her a trespasser. He had called her a trespasser when she had come over the night before. 

 

“Sorry,” she ducked her head, probably thinking that he was mad at her.

 

“Don’t apologize.”

 

“More questions than answers.”  _ Yeah, but they are good questions. _

 

“Sign of weakness,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

 

She looked at him thoughtfully this time, “I thought it took strength to apologize.”  _ To a lover. _

 

Ziva and McGee came back after their impromptu dinner and Ziva answered the phone at her desk. The elevator dinged and Gibbs saw Tony walk out of it with a slump to his shoulders. 

 

“Thank you,” he heard Ziva get off the phone, “Homeland Security says there’s been an uptick in chatter. Something is definitely going on.”

 

“Better have a fatal disease, DiNozzo.” Gibbs called out as he stood.  _ Please don’t have a fatal disease. I don’t know why fear shoots through me at the thought, but please. _

 

“Josh’s mom called. He’s looking for payback. Wants to skip Princeton and join the Marines. I went to talk him out of it,” Tony informed him succinctly.  _ That doesn’t answer my question about the hospital visit that I know you caught on to. Kid’s looking for vengeance and wants to join the Marines? Kid’s gonna get himself killed. _

 

“Did you?”

 

“I don’t know, boss,” they looked into each other’s eyes a moment and for a moment Gibbs saw the weariness that Tony constantly hid. He was a little shocked at the depth of the the sorrow in his SFA’s eyes.

 

“McGee, turn this up. Gibbs?” Mann’s voice cut across them like a slap to the face.  _ Right, got to keep flirting with the coyote _ .

 

The TV then announced, “a fiery explosion has completely engulfed a Rosslyn convenience store. The store’s owner is believed to have been inside at the time of the blast.”

 

“That’s Sharif’s place,” Mann reminded them. 

 

“Go home, get some rest, we’ll come back to this in the morning,” Gibbs barked out at them. His team quickly left the bullpen and headed off for their homes.

 

***

That night Gibbs had a decidedly odd dream. He was chasing a snake through the grass. He wasn’t chasing the snake to attack it or anything, but he needed to catch the snake. The snake was important to him. He looked down and saw that he was running on four paws after the snake. One would think that an animal on four legs would be able to catch a snake with no legs, but the snake was always one step ahead of him. 

 

He ran along a river and saw that he was in the body of a fox, but in the river he also saw the shadow of a coyote chasing after him. He stopped running after the snake to face the coyote, thinking he had to protect the snake. Except, when he stopped running, the coyote didn’t. Once it entered within range, the coyote lunged and attacked him.

 

Gibbs came awake with a start and had his weapon in hand before he realized he was alone in his bed and in his house. Once he got his heart rate calmer he put his weapon back under his pillow and thought over his dream. The snake must represent Nathair and he had already been calling Mann a coyote in his head.  _ Does that make me the silver fox? Ugh, been talking too much with Abby. _ He glanced over at the clock and groaned, it was time to get up. He missed the dreams he had shared with Nathair, he had always felt rested after those dreams. As if some dark part of him had been sated.

 

He got into work and saw Mann in uniform waiting for him. She smiled warmly at him and he looked at her thoughtfully, the dream refusing to fully leave his mind. The first place they headed to was Autopsy. They arrived to see Ducky already talking with his latest ‘patient.’

 

“-which does not bode well for me, I’m afraid.” Ducky turned at their entrance, “your visit is premature. I’m still waiting for the rest of him to be delivered.” 

 

Gibbs moved himself as far away from Ducky as he could, while still within talking range. “Mm-hmm. Till then you have…?”

 

“Well, the obvious. Same as before. Except this time the dismemberment was caused by some form of high-impact explosive.”

 

“His dismemberment, but not his death,” Mann caught onto the difference. 

 

Ducky smiled at her proudly, “correct, Colonel. As you can see, he was in the pugilist-at-rest posture at the time of his demise. This praying mantis posture is one of man’s oldest defensive positions, almost always assumed when battling intense heat and flame.” 

 

Gibbs watched as Ducky sidled closer to Mann and smiled flirtatiously, however Mann wasn’t even giving him a second glance. She looked down at the body, “so Sharif was burned alive.”

 

“Place was torched before the bomb went off.”

 

“That kind of overkill means they were either sending a message…”

 

_ He won’t tell you the truth. _

 

_ Trust the hungry man, he will tell you the truth. _

 

Luna’s words ran through Gibbs once more, “or there was something there they didn’t want us to find.”

 

Mann nodded, “we may have beat them to it.” He knew she was talking about the security tape, but something niggled Gibbs about Sharif and the entire situation at hand. 

 

They went up to Abby’s lab next and once the elevator doors opened, Gibbs could hear the familiar music that poured out of Abby’s lab. 

 

“Oh… come on, down in front man,” Abby shouted at her screen.

 

“Do all your people talk to themselves?” Mann asked him teasingly. 

 

“Don’t yours?” He shot back.

 

“Have you any idea how many Ring Dings are sold each day in your average convenience store?” Abby kept her gaze firmly on Gibbs. 

 

“Abs, the customers.” He reminded her to get back to the case.

 

“The customers. They’re talking about everything from the weather to hemorrhoid cream.” Abby listed off until Mann interrupted her.

 

“There’s no audio. How do you know what they’re talking about?” 

 

Abby turned to face Mann and Gibbs felt everything tense at the hostility she was showing Mann, luckily it was placed behind a mask that no one would see unless they knew Abby. She raised an eyebrow and waggled two fingers at her lips.

 

“Ah, you read lips.” 

 

She turned to Gibbs and signed,  _ she for real? _ Indicating that Mann may not be the brightest crayon in the box. 

 

He signed back, still in flirtation strategy mode, “Maybe she’ll surprise you…”

 

“Okay, you guys want to keep talking about me or get back to the case?” she reminded him of himself in that moment.

 

Abby raised an eyebrow in challenge, “you think I can’t do both? After watching seven hours of the most boring reality show ever made, I’ve narrowed it down to one final contestant.” Abby pointed at the hungry homeless man that Sharif had given food to when Gibbs and Mann had paid him a visit.  _ Trust the hungry man, he will tell you the truth. _ “He refers to himself as Abraham. He didn’t say the name of the golf course, but he did say that the Day of Judgement was approaching.” 

 

They left and set the team on research on this Abraham, but something niggled Gibbs about him. _Trust the hungry man, he will tell you the truth._ _Abraham had to be the hungry man, but why would he talk about a Judgement Day approaching?_

 

“According to Maryland DMV records, his full name is Abraham Moussalah. Born 1974, served three years for robbing a convenience store in Baltimore. Almost got away with $86 and come Ding Dongs,” Ziva started the sit-rep.

 

McGee picked it up then, “spent some time in a psych ward, converted to a radical sect of Islam.”  _ Explain the Judgement Day comments, but would he be involved in this? Luna said to trust the Hungry Man. _

 

“Got a last known for him?” Mann looked expectantly at McGee.

 

“His probation officer hasn’t heard from him in over a year,” Ziva informed them.

 

“No credit cards, no car registrations. Boss, this guy’s gone off the grid.” McGee winced as he informed Gibbs of the information.

 

“I’ll check the BOLO, see if there’s any hits.”

 

“CID should have intel on Abraham’s sect. I’ll make a few calls.” Mann walked off and McGee piped up.

 

“I’m going to coordinate with local LEOs and highway patrol. Where’s Tony?” McGee asked as soon as Mann had walked off. 

 

“Don’t worry about Tony,”  _ That’s my job _ . “Tony is fine,” he may have growled more than he had intended, but McGee quickly got back to work. His phone rang and it was Abby calling him back down to her lab. 

 

“Remember the Cellphone that was never used? Well, it was used. Only all the data was hard-erased.” Abby explained to them.

 

“Hard-erased?” Mann asked.

 

“What part of hard-erased do you not understand,” Abby looked at her like she was an idiot. Gibbs kept wisely silent as he knew that all he needed to know was that the phone had been erased in such a way that they needed a tech like Abby to dig deeper, luckily she had found something. 

 

“All of it.”

 

Abby pursed her lips to stop herself from saying something, like calling Mann and idiot, “well, then, you’ve come to the right place. A cell phone is very much like a computer- you can delete data off of it, but then if someone knows where to look-”

 

“Bottom line, Abby,” Gibbs really didn’t want to listen to her techno-babble. He just wanted to solve the case and get Mann out of his hair. 

 

“Um, the cell was used once. It was an incoming call, probably to test the detonator. Then it was reset to factory defaults.”

 

“You got a number?”

 

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said with over exaggerated relief. She peeled off a sticky note and plastered it onto his chest. He smiled at her and walked back up to the bullpen to give the number to McGee. 

 

“The incoming call came from the warehouse Sharif gave the CIA. Must be where Abraham was testing the detonator.” McGee had worked his magic and traced the phone number.

 

“He’s not there now.” Gibbs stalked back to his desk.

 

“Place has been crawling with EOD since yesterday,” Mann supported his statement.

 

“Can you trace that cell?”

 

“If it’s on,” McGee typed at his computer and shouted for Ziva.

 

“Almost done.” she responded. 

 

“I’m having Ziva scan the cell tower control-tack frequencies looking for the cell’s registration request.”

 

“McGee, it just powered up.” Ziva shouted urgently.

 

“Tell me he’s not making a call.” Gibbs lamented. McGee rushed over to Ziva’s desk and all but pushed her out of the way to get to the keyboard. She scooted back to give the computer tech the space he needed.

 

“Nope, not yet. I’ve got his location. M Street and Wisconsin.”

 

“Georgetown Promenade.” they geared up and Gibbs ordered McGee to tell Tony where to meet them.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Josh’s mom had called Tony to try one more time to talk with Josh. “Thanks again.” She smiled at him as she opened the door for him.

 

“Thank you,” he whispered to her. “Hey. Looks like you’ve made up your mind.”

 

“Special Agent/mind reader.”  _ Only if we make eye contact and I use magic. _

 

“Well, when you’re good, you’re good, but I wasn’t reading your mind. I was reading your body language. You’re relaxed. The struggle is over. You’ve made up your mind,”  _ you’re also not yelling at me out trying to talk you out of joining the Marines. _

 

“Special Agent/Dr. Phil,” Josh got up and crossed to the other side of the room.

 

“So what’s it gonna be, Josh? 0600 wake-ups and desert camo? Or all-night frat parties and Jell-o shots with co-eds?” Tony sat down in the chair that Josh had vacated.

 

“I decided to do what my dad always wanted me to.”

 

“Ah. I’m guessing he wasn’t a big fan of Jell-o Shots.”

 

“No, but he was a big fan of Princeton,” Josh nodded to his bag and gave a small smile in Tony’s direction. 

 

“So you’re going back to school.” Tony sounded surprised, which he honestly was surprised. He had figured that Josh would give in to revenge, kid surprised him with actually thinking things through.

 

“Then Georgetown Law, then into Naval Intelligence.” 

 

_ Damn, more thought out than I was at that age, then again it doesn’t help planning your future when you have a megalomaniac hellbent on killing you. _ “That’s good. We could use the help.” Tony stood and projected as much confidence as he could. “Listen, I keep my word, Josh. We’re gonna find the person who did this.”

 

“I know, Tony,” Josh smiled at him. Tony gave him a confused nod, “It’s in your body language.” 

 

Tony chuckled at Josh and nodded approached. He shook the kid’s hand and headed out to his car. He had just reached his car when he got a text from McGee saying that some guy named Abraham was their suspect and that they were headed to Georgetown Promenade.

 

He was jogging up as they were approaching the promenade. “You guys weren’t planning on starting without me, were you?”

 

“Who’s that?” Ziva teased, but Tony could hear the underlying frustration at him in her tone. 

 

“Flanking positions on the promenade, east and west,” Mann was ordering her personnel.

 

Gibbs went up to a LEO, “clear the civilians quietly. DiNozzo.”

 

He knew what Gibbs was asking without it needing to be asked, “Princeton.” 

 

“There, Abraham on the bench,” Mann looked over the promenade. 

 

“If he sees us clear the promenade, he may detonate,” Ziva voiced her concern.

 

“If it’s a trip-wire, any of these people may detonate it.” Mann countered.

 

“On the second bomb, he used a cell phone,” Ziva countered. 

 

“The cell phone’s not connected to the backpack,” Tony noted as they continued to make their way through the promenade.

 

Tony could tell that Gibbs was tense and could almost hear him screaming at himself Luna’s words.  _ He won’t tell you the truth. Trust the hungry man, he will tell you the truth.  _ Luna had warned Gibbs before he and Mann had left to go see Sharif.  _ Does that mean Sharif lied to them, and how does Abraham fit into this? _

 

“Trip wire, cell phone, who knows how he armed this one?” Gibbs unzipped his jacket and trepidation spread across Tony.  _ No, no, no. Do not go lone wolf again.  _

 

“Deadman switch? Or not,” Tony felt a little growl enter his voice at Gibbs doing this shit again. 

 

“DiNozzo, you keep your ears on me,” Gibbs flipped his earwig out of his ear, dropped his jacket and picked up another nondescript jacket. 

 

“What the hell is he doing?” Tony rolled his eyes at Mann’s question.

 

“What he always does,” he kept his eyes riveted on Gibbs and he didn’t bother keeping the growl out of his voice. He watched as Gibbs grabbed a white fedora from a passerby. Tony winced as he put it on and suddenly Gibbs looked like a friendly grandpa type.

 

“Four marriages, negotiating probably not his thing.” Mann commented.

 

“You’d be surprised,”  _ is it wrong I still find him sexy as hell? _

 

“Well, I have been so far,” Mann commented. 

 

“Cell’s not the detonator.” He heard Gibbs say over the mic. “My son, Tony, he plays that same game. What’s your name?”

 

Tony couldn’t help the wince at being called Gibbs’ son. He really didn’t want to think too hard on that. _Did Gibbs see him like that now? If so, how did Nathair fit into that?_ _Ugh, no, not thinking about that._

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“Abraham,” the man didn’t look up from the phone.

 

“Hey, Abraham,” Gibbs reached out his hand in greeting. “Jethro.” 

 

“Jethro?”

 

“That’s the name they gave me.” 

 

“That means ‘friend of God’.”  _ Okay something’s not right with this Abraham guy. He sounds almost reverent of Gibbs, which sure I guess I do too, but at least I know the man.  _ “The father-in-law of Moses. He walked with the Israelites when God parted the red sea.”  _ Yeah, no way this guy was involved in this shit. Abraham is the hungry man.  _ “You know why God parted the Red Sea?”

 

“No.” 

 

“To show the people that sea creatures were totally dependent on God’s will.”

 

“What is he talking about?” McGee asked incredulously.

 

“I’d say this guy’s a few puppies short of a pet shop.” Tony was about to continue on to say that Abraham had to be used by someone else. 

 

“Most suicide bombers are,” Ziva commented before Tony got the chance. 

 

“Abraham, can I ask you a question?” Gibbs was asking Abraham. “You think it’s all right for someone to hurt innocent people?”

 

“No, Jethro,” the indignation in Abraham’s voice had Tony nudging Ziva. 

 

“I didn’t think so,” Gibbs nodded, “What are you doing here, Abraham?”

 

“I’m waiting for my friend. He’s gonna take me to dinner.”  _ Yep, he’s the hungry man. _

 

“Your friend give you the backpack?” Gibbs asked, again Tony nudged Ziva. Again, she ignored him and actually smacked with an open hand. 

 

“Mm-hmm, about an hour ago. He said so I don’t lose it,” Abraham lifted his hand and Tony finally saw the cord attached from the man’s wrist to the backpack.

 

“Ziva,” Tony whispered to her and pointedly jerked his head to them.

 

“What’s this friend’s name?” Gibbs asked.

 

“Sharif.”

 

_ Shit, _ “So who’s laying in autopsy then?” Tony asked noone. 

 

“He was supposed to meet me here at 3:00.”

 

“Ziva,” Gibbs shouted and Tony nudged her at the same time. This time she ran over to where they were sitting. “Abraham, is it all right if we take a look in your backpack?”

 

Ziva’s sure fingers opened the bag and they instantly saw the C-4 markings. “EOD’s still on their way, Boss.” Tony informed him.

 

“We’re out of time,” Mann said as Ziva’s fingers turned the timer to face them.  _ Shit _ , Tony tamped down on his magic as hard as he could, he didn’t want to accidentally set it off with his magic. 

 

“You want me to diffuse it, because before you said you’d kick my ass-” Ziva said even as she stared working on defusing the bomb.

 

“Do it! The rest of you, go! Go on, get outta here,” Gibbs tried to shoo them away, but Tony and Tim all squatted down next to Ziva.  _ If she doesn’t get it by the last second I’ll take the bomb and apparate away at the last second.  _ Tony went to the other side of Ziva and took out a knife, ready to cut the cord from Abraham to grab the bomb. Gibbs looked down at Tony confused. 

 

Ziva took out her own knife and began tracing along the wires, her gaze focused on the bomb. 

 

“What’s your name?” Abraham asked Tim.

 

“Uh, Tim.”

 

“It means ‘he who’s about to wet his pants’.” Tony couldn’t help but get that last jab in. At the ten second mark Tony brought his knife up to the cord and waited. Gibbs paced and continued to look at Tony with confusion. Tim and Ziva were too focused on the bomb to notice. Luckily Ziva cut the wire and the bomb stopped at 5 seconds. Tony quickly brought his knife away from the cord and backed away from the bomb. 

 

“Why is he gonna wet his pants?” Abraham asked as they all breathed a sigh of relief. Ziva let out a chuckle. Tony sat back and relaxed for a moment. He had been prepared to apparate away an active bomb and die himself.  _ My last words to McGee would have been a joke about him wetting his pants. Sirius would be proud. _

 

“No I wouldn’t, kid,” he heard Sirius’ voice. He turned and saw the see through visage that was his Godfather. He glanced around and saw that no one else could see the dead man. 

 

Tony sighed and resigned himself to a long lecture about sacrificing himself, again, from all the dead people who care about him, again. “Let the parade begin.” He mumbled under his breath.

 

“What was that,” Gibbs growled after determining that Sharif wasn’t there anymore. 

 

“Nothing boss, just gonna have a headache by the end of the day,”  _ and I can’t even yell back. _

 

“Anthony DiNozzo Jr.” Kate joined his Godfather and Tony groaned and Tim gave him a funny look.  Tony grinned charmingly at McGee and resigned himself to the headache he knew awaited him for the rest of the day as they sorted through the paperwork from this case.


	16. Twisted Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts off rather Tim centric and is the reason I've added F/M to the story types.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the last two weeks have been super chaotic between work and social engagements that my husband 'encourages' me to go to. I suppose some human contact is healthy lol. Ppl need friends and experiences to write better as my mother keeps telling me to encourage both my writing and me being social. All the loves, all comments are appreciated. I will only delete comments that are mean for mean's sake, if you have any advice or have any issues with plot points, don't be afraid to ask, there may be a reason for it or it may be an honest mistake. I tend to respond and explain without giving away true plot points, so ask at your own peril.

He gazed down at her angelic body, he wanted nothing more than to take her and hold her forever. She serenely waited for him drink his fill of her naked form. He lay himself beside her and gathered her into his arms, he wanted to worship every inch of her. So he did. He started by kissing her soft, narrow lips. His lips moved against hers and she writhed beneath him, trying to bring their bodies closer together. He obliged her and ran his hands down her body in feather-light touches, causing her to moan. 

 

“Tim,” she moaned his name against his lips and he grinned in response. He removed his mouth from hers and began nibble at her neck. His teeth scraped against skin as his fingers continued their journey down her body. Her hands wrapped around his back, flat against his skin, pulling him closer to her. 

 

Her hands raised up to her nails when his hand found it’s destination inside her nest of curls. His fingers met wetness as he continued to move his mouth against her neck. The smell of her arousal hit him and he let out an unconscious growl. He felt her smile and curled herself around his body as his fingers dug inside her. She gasped as his fingers brushed against a sensitive spot. He grinned against her skin and continued to stroke her until she was clawing at his back in ecstacy. 

 

She shuddered against him and he felt all tension leave her body. His lips met hers and she opened her mouth to allow him entry. Their tongues slid languidly against each other and their moans mixed as he entered her body. He braced a hand beside her and grasped her breast in his other. He rolled her nipple between his fingers as he slid slowly in and out of her. Her hands clawed against his back again as her legs wrapped around her waist on an attempt to bring the impossibly closer. 

 

He moved against her as he felt his own pleasure mounting. He mentally held himself back as he changed the angle slightly and she gasped once more. He wanted her to come again before he allowed himself his own pleasure. 

 

“Luna, my beautiful Luna,” he whispered to her as he broke his mouth away from hers. 

 

“Oh, Tim,” she clutched to him tighter if it were possible and she shuddered once more. His hips picked up speed, causing her pleasure to intensify as she moaned and rocked her hips against his. “Oh, fuck!”

 

He grinned at being able to get the normally serene woman to curse at the pleasure coursing through her and snapped his hips to hers one final time before he shuddered against her. His own release spilling inside of her. He held her for a moment before exhaustion came upon him and he fell to her side, careful not to crush her smaller form. 

 

As soon as his body hit the mattress she moved to his arms and curled against him contentedly. She sighed and snuggled to him. He closed his eyes and revelled in her presence, just breathing in her scent. He closed his eyes and basked in the afterglow of sex. He dozed until he felt her nose nuzzling against his neck.

 

“You need to work on your book and I want to finish mine,” he felt her smile against his skin and he tightened his arms around her. He knew how lucky he was. Luna got that his games were a release from the tension from work and she was content to do her research as he gamed. She never interrupted his process, nor made fun of him for playing Jazz, nor typing it out on a typewriter. She had several notebooks written in several different languages strewn about the apartment and was content to write or research as he wrote. There was no awkward silences, they were content to just be in the same room with each other doing their own thing, for hours. 

 

He frowned as she left his arms and made her way to the bathroom. He knew he couldn’t just lay there and hold her forever, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to. He sighed and got himself up and moved about the room, looking for the clothes he had been wearing earlier. He didn’t bother with pants, but pulled his boxers up and pulled a comfortable t-shirt over his head. 

 

By the time he was dressed, Luna came out of the bathroom and promptly grabbed one of his oversized t-shirts. She didn’t put on anything else and a part of him got a sense of primal pride at that. As if he had staked some sort of claim over her by her wearing one of his shirts and nothing else. He grinned and pulled her into his arms before crashing his lips to hers and tangling his fingers in her hair. 

 

She smiled against his lips and gently pushed him away, “Tim. Darling, your writing?”

 

“Right, right,” he grinned at her and rubbed his nose against hers in an eskimo kiss. 

 

He reluctantly pulled away from her and walked out of the bedroom with her following behind him. He set up his desk and put on his jazz, he watched her for a moment once he got everything in place as she curled herself on his couch with her book and notes spread all over the coffee table before her. 

 

He smiled at her before he turned back to his typewriter and wiggled his fingers across the keys, trying to spur an idea. He started typing before he winced, not liking the pattern of his thinking. He took the paper out of the machine and shredded it. The whirr of the other machine masking the sound of Luna getting up and making coffee. 

 

He had just stared typing when there was a knock at the door to break his concentration. He turned to see Luna gliding over and answering the door. 

 

“McGee! Oh,” his upstairs neighbor was at the door, “um, could I speak with McGee?” 

 

He turned and had gotten up, once he was in view of the neighbor the man’s eyes turned hard and angry, “hey McGee. Bzzz! That’s what I’ve been hearing for the last three nights! Bzzzz. Bzzzz. You electrocuting your girlfriend, here?”

 

Tim’s eyes widened as he saw Luna’s shoulders stiffen, “what Tim and I do in the privacy of our bedroom is none of your business, however if you would like us to keep quiet, that can be arranged. However if you continue to speak in such a rude manner, then we will do whatever we damn well please, noise be damned. Good night.” 

 

She slammed the door in his neighbor’s face and turned back to Tim. Her eyes blazed with intense annoyance and he was infinitely glad he had never had that look directed at him. Sure, she terrified him, but he found it sexy as hell at the same time. She was strong and independent, she didn’t need him to take care of her, but she accepted his care anyway. 

 

“Don’t worry about him, darling. Your computer is off right?” 

 

He cocked his head to the side curiously at her out of the blue question, “um, yeah?” 

 

“Good, now let's get back to our evening,” she smiled serenely at him and he knew better than to question her. He shrugged his shoulders and went back to his typewriter. He heard her murmuring in a different language over by his door and the coffee maker. He paid it no mind even as she moved to all sides of his apartment, still murmuring in that language. He knew she had her quirks and it wasn’t the first time she had done this, every time asking if his computer was off before doing it. 

 

He stared at the one word that was typed on the new page for a moment before he shredded that paper too. There was a knock at his door once again and he winced, thinking it was his neighbor again. Luna was in the bedroom, so he rushed to open the door. 

 

“Sorry, it was an accident,” he opened the door and any thought he had went out the window as he stared down at his little sister. 

 

Sarah was sobbing, tears streaked her cheeks as her hands shook. Her hair was disheveled and her hands and clothes were covered in blood. “I think I killed someone, Tim.”

 

He honestly stared at her in shock until Luna came out of his bedroom, “Who is it, Tim?”

 

Tim just blinked for a moment before he pulled Sarah into the apartment. “Sarah? Sarah, what happened?”

 

Luna was there in the blink of an eye and was in the kitchen grabbing the biggest ziploc bags he had. She came up with a big trash bag and nodded at Tim who gently took the jacket off of his sobbing sister. Luna carefully placed the jacket in the bag and gave Tim a look, “I’ll take her to the bedroom and get her changed. Call Tony.” 

 

Luna led Sarah to his bedroom and Tim automatically grabbed his cellphone before he saw his sister’s jacket inside the bag on his counter. What if they just lock her away? I couldn’t stand to see her in Interrogation against Gibbs. Sarah comes first. Tony would just tell Gibbs. What if they treated her like any other suspect? His thoughts circled around in his head as he stared at the phone in his hand. No, I’ll investigate what happened and then go to the team. 

 

He went over to his bedroom door and knocked gently, “Tim? Did you call Tony?” 

 

He walked in to see Luna expertly drawing blood from his sister’s arm. Where did she get the equipment? 

 

“Tim? Tim? Did you call Tony, darling?”

 

Sarah now wore one of his t-shirts and Tim saw that Luna had placed Sarah’s clothes in individual bags. “I-I can’t, Luna.”

 

Luna finished what she was doing and placed the vial of blood from his sister in another bag. “Tim, you have to trust your team. Tony wouldn’t let anything happen to your sister. Family is the most important thing to him. Tim-”

 

“I can’t take that chance, Luna. She just said she thought she killed someone,” finally giving voice to his worries made Tim shake as a cold chill swept through him. What if- 

 

“She’s been drugged, Tim.”

 

“Why-” Tim cleared his throat, “why don’t we let her sleep and see if she knows more in the morning?”

 

She looked at him unhappily, but nodded her agreement. “Fine, but you can trust your team, Tim.”

 

***

The next morning found Luna sitting on the bed reading a book as Tim paced outside the bathroom of his apartment. Sarah was in the shower taking her sweet-ass time as Tim continued to work himself up at the implications of the night before. 

 

“You okay?”

 

“You asked me that, 30 seconds ago, Mom.” Sarah’s annoyance was muffled through the door of the bathroom. 

 

“Yeah, well, you’ve been in there over an hour,” Tim shouted back. 

 

Sarah’s voice came muffled through the door again, “yeah, well, how long would you be in the shower if you were covered in mystery blood?”

 

Tim heard the water shut off, “you’re sure that none of it’s yours?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“But you don’t know whose it is?”

 

“No. I told you. I was at Headliners with these girls from school, we were watching this crappy band, the next thing I know, I’m at your front door,” Tim heard the shower curtain move as his sister got out of the shower. 

 

“You left out the part where you said you killed someone.” 

 

Sarah opened the door, wrapped in Tim’s bathrobe, “Tim, that’s not funny.”

 

“You don’t remember saying that,” Tim asked her, out of the corner of his eye he saw Luna put down her book and get up. 

 

Luna tilted Sarah’s head up and looked into her eyes for a long moment. Finally, Luna sighed and looked away from his sister, shaking her head. Her thumb came up and she bit it, Tim recognized it as Luna’s ‘thoughtful’ look and let her be. 

 

He turned back to Sarah and asked her, “How much did you have to drink?”

 

“Nothing.” Sarah said indignantly, “I’m under 21, remember?”

 

“Really, because your fake ID says you’re 22.” Tim held up said fake ID he had found in her stuff. 

 

Sarah grabbed her card and stalked out of the bedroom. 

 

“How much?” Tim persisted as he followed after her. 

 

“Okay, I had a few drinks,” she finally admitted. 

 

Luna shut the door to the bedroom, but Tim paid it no mind. His mind was focused on his little sister, “Sarah, do you remember what happened the last time you had a ‘few’ drinks?”

 

“No,” she petulantly admitted. 

 

“That’s the point. You can’t drink. Last time you had a few too many, you painted ‘bitch’ on Katie Hutchinson’s garage.” Tim’s phone rang just then. 

 

“I would have done that sober,” Sarah defended. “That bitch stole my boyfriend.” 

 

Tim picked up his phone and saw that Ziva was calling him. Shit. He hit the end call button and was glad he had already emailed both Gibbs and the Director about being ‘sick.’ Luna still wanted him to call Tony about this, but he couldn’t take that chance, not with his sister. 

 

“Tim, relax. I barely even touched my second beer, okay? I remember because I had-” Sarah cut herself off. 

 

“You had to what?”

 

“I had to study,” she whispered as if she were remembering things, “that’s right. After the concert, we went to the food court, but I left early because I had to go to the library.”

 

“Good. Library’s good, and then?” 

 

Sarah groaned in frustration, “ugh, why can’t I remember?”

 

“Someone could have slipped you something.”

 

“No, Smart Girl 101, you don’t take drinks from guys you don’t know.”

 

“We should still get a urine sample.” Tim grabbed the first mug he saw and handed it out to Sarah.

 

“No, I can’t pee in a mug with a picture of grandma on it,” she scowled at him like only a little sister could.

 

“Well, then it’s a good thing that Luna drew your blood last night,” Tim sighed and picked up his phone. 

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Calling the Police,” Tim sighed as his Federal Agent side warred with his brother side. 

 

“And telling them what?” Sarah exploded, “that I showed up at your front door with blood on my hands saying I killed someone? Besides, Tim, that could be animal blood.”

 

“And what if it’s not?” Tim asked her confrontationally. “Sarah, I’m a federal agent. I have a responsibility-”

 

“Tim, I didn’t come to a federal agent. I came to my big brother.” She hugged him as Luna came out of the bedroom. 

 

“I have to go, Tim. You should call Tony, he will help,” Luna kissed Tim on the cheek and gave a sympathetic look to Sarah as she hugged the younger woman as she left the apartment, dressed for the day. 

 

Sarah sat next to Tim as he helped her create a timeline of her night, “who emails sick to work?”

 

“If I called, they’d know I was lying,” Tim pointed out to her distractedly as he worked at his computer. 

 

“Oh, and if you have laryngitis, you can’t call. Have you been saving that for a comic book convention?” She teased him.

 

“Can we get back to the timeline, please,” Tim bit at her.

 

“Geez, I need to tell Luna to put out more, you’re too tense,” Sarah grumbled as she leaned back in her chair. 

 

Tim rolled his eyes at her, “Okay, so, you left the bar at 9:30 p.m.”

 

“I got to the campus food court at around 10:00.”

 

“You showed up here at my door at 2:30 a.m. That leaves four hours unaccounted for.” He typed the information into his computer and the timeline showed up on his map.

 

“I’m actually impressed. Is this what you do at work?”

 

“Yeah,” Tim started to feel a modicum of pride at his work, before his sister opened her mouth again and she reminded him why he wanted to strangle her most of the time. 

 

“You, like, state the obvious and make pretty pie charts?” 

 

Tim rolled his eyes at her, “no, we collect facts, and we formulate theories. But if you think you can do better.”

 

“Oh. Well, okay.” She got up and grabbed his NCIS hat from the top of his desk and began pacing about the apartment, “there are four hours unaccounted for. Of which I have no memory, so, I either drank more than I realized, repressed some kind of traumatic event, or was drugged. And the blood on my hands and that fact that I’m always with what I drink imply a traumatic event. But what and where?” 

 

She picked up one of her shoes, “answer, the shoes I bought yesterday. $32 on sale, plus I had a back-to-school coupon. They’re muddy, but the soles are barely even scuffed, so I didn’t walk the five miles to your place. Okay, so how did I get here?”

 

She picked up the bag that held her pocket money, “when I left the food court, I had $14 in my back pocket and now there’s only two, and since it’s a ten dollar taxi ride to your place, do the math, I must’ve taken a taxi cab here. And that’s our first step. We find the driver. We ask him where I was. And when we find out where I was, we can find out what happened.”

 

Tim nodded at his sister, “let’s start by checking local taxi dispatchers. There’s two major cab companies. Dozens of gypsies. So I’m assuming you left from campus. It would definitely be a major. They’ll have a log of the fare,” Tim’s fingers flew across his keyboard as he pulled up the information he needed. “Do you think you caught the taxi on campus?” he looked sharply over to see Sarah passed out. 

 

He sighed and got to work on the computer and quickly printed off the information he needed. Once everything was where he needed it to be, he looked thoughtfully at his sister. He gently picked her up and thanked all the higher deities that Luna had convinced him to become healthier and had talked him into getting a personal trainer. He set her down on his bed and tucked her in, agian thanking all the higher deities that Luna had changed the sheets after their carnal activities the night before. 

 

***

Tim pulled his car up to the taxi loading zone and got out. He pulled out the paper that had the taxi’s information on it and began looking around. He was approached by campus security, “uh, you’ll have to move your car, sir. You’re in a passenger loading zone. I don’t see any, uh, pass-”

 

Tim pulled out his badge and a part of him preened at the liberal use of his badge, thing came in handy sometimes. 

 

“Oh, well, you don’t want to park here.”

 

“You might want to yank out your rent-a-cop manual and recheck the pecking order,” he said with confidence as he continued looking around campus, looking for any clue as to what had happened the night before. 

 

“No, no, no. Your people are on the other side of the quad.” The campus security guard pointed over and Tim’s eyes widened as he saw Ziva jogging around a cordoned off crime scene. Shit. Tim quickly ran back to his car and drove back to his apartment. Shit, if the team was there, that means there’s a dead sailor. Wasn’t Sarah’s ex a sailor? Fuck. Rule 39. No such thing as coincidence. 

 

He got back to the apartment to find Sarah still sleeping, so he got out his home go-bag and tested the blood on Sarah’s clothes. He had to be sure the blood was human. He had just finished the test. Damn, human. Fucking shit. 

 

“Hey, what time is it?” He heard his little sister ask from behind him. His little sister, he had to protect her, but what about my job? 

 

Sarah’s more important than my job.

 

Fuck, shit, damn, fuck, shit. 

 

No amount of cursing would be enough at this point. “After 10:00.”

 

“After 10:00? I missed my class,” she bemoaned. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

 

“I wanted you to get some rest before-” Tim cut himself off. He had no choice, he had to take her in. She was most likely involved in his team’s case and it would lead to her and the fact that Tim hid her. 

 

“Before what?”

 

“Sarah-” he finally turned to face her.

 

“You found my taxi.” 

 

Tim felt a tightness in his throat and grunted to clear it, “I haven’t spoken to the driver yet, but… I did get a log from the company.”

 

“And?”

 

“And you were picked up early this morning at the quad.” he looked at her seriously, “When I went there to check it out, NCIS was there.”

 

“What was NCIS doing there?” He heard real fear enter his sister’s voice and he cursed himself for putting it there. He felt tears want to form, but he pushed it down. 

 

He knew his voice broke a little as he delivered the news cold, he knew he had to. It might trigger a memory, but that didn’t make it any easier, “probably had something to do with the dead body.”

 

She didn’t say anything, just turned around and started walking back into his room. 

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“The library- I have to study,” he could hear the fear and anxiety in her voice and knew that she was falling back on what was familiar. Studying, books, that’s what made sense to her right now, but he had to sink it in.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I have a Chaucer midterm coming up.”

 

“Hey, Sarah! Hello! Dead guy! That’s probably dead guy’s blood on your shirt.”

 

“I told you,” she was shouting at him. He felt bad for upsetting her, but he had to get her through this, “that could be animal blood.”

 

“It’s not. I tested it, and it’s human. Sarah, we’ve got to go to NCIS. We- we can take the blood Luna drew last night and-”

 

“Why? Why NCIS?”

 

“Body was a sailor.” At his words, he saw Sarah get that look as if she were remembering something. She sat down on his bed and refused to look up.

 

“Do you know the sailor’s name?” 

 

“No.”

 

She sounded like she was on the verge of tears, “I do.”

 

She then ran into his bathroom and locked herself in, Tim started pounding on the door even as he heard her sobs. His heart ached for her, “Sarah! Open up! Sarah! Tell me how you know this guy!” Sarah, I can’t help you unless you talk to me.” She finally opened the door. “How do you know him?”

 

“We used to date. Until he started seeing my old roommate.” 

 

“What? You mean Jeff?” 

 

“Yeah,” the way she said it felt like there was more to the story.

 

“And?” he prompted her.

 

“And, I threatened to kill him once or twice. Maybe even three times.” And that’s the first thing the team’s going to find.

 

“You told me you didn’t like him,” he pulled her into his arms and hugged his sister as she cried into his chest. 

 

“What did you expect me to say, Tim? I really liked this guy and he just broke my heart when he dumped me for some skanky cheerleader,” her voice turned angry towards the end. 

 

“I expect you to tell your brother the truth. Jesus! Sarah, you threatened to kill him because he dumped you for a cheerleader?” He rubbed her back comfortingly. 

 

She choked out a sob, “I didn’t mean it. It was just one of those things you say, you know?” 

 

She tried to get out of his hold and he let her go as she stormed out of the room. “Did anyone hear you say it?”

 

“I never actually said it,” her voice sounded small and meek. “I e-mailed it.” 

 

Shit, fucking shit, shit, shit. “Sarah, we have to go to Gibbs, now.” 

 

“I haven’t done anything wrong.” 

 

“How do you know?” He hated to ask this of his sister, but even she didn’t know what had happened last night.

 

“Tim, you don’t really…” He couldn’t meet her eyes at that. “You do.”

 

“Sober, no, but you were drinking, Sarah. There could have been an accident.”

 

“Tim, I swear on my life-”

 

“How can you swear?! You don’t remember what happened.” 

 

“If my own brother doesn’t believe me, who the hell is going to?” She turned to run away from him again. 

 

He grabbed her by his coat she wore, “Sarah.”

 

“What, are you gonna arrest me?” he let go of her to get his phone from the bedroom.

 

“You need to understand something. Our only option right now is going to N-” Shit. He looked up and saw that Sarah was gone and his door was wide open. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“McGee’s not answering his cell phone, pager, or MySpace IM,” Tony could hear the worry in Ziva’s voice, despite her cool facade so early in the morning. 

 

Tony chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, “McGee on MySpace, I gotta see that.”

 

“Keep calling,” Gibbs barked at her. 

 

“Still trying to get into his calendar, Boss,” Tony dutifully piped up.

 

“You know, I’m not sure what the problem is,” Ziva began, but Tony could tell she was worried about the little Probie. “When I was framed by the Iranians for murder, I was late for many hours before anyone even noticed.”

 

“You’re not McGee, Ziva.” Gibbs said as if that were explanation enough. Which it kind of was. Tony had gone to the bathroom minutes ago to cast a locator charm on McGee’s enchanted ‘gift’ and it had revealed that McGee was wearing said watch and that he was at home. 

 

“McTimex’s brain is hard-wired for punctuality. And sadly, scaring away potential mates.”

 

“Except for Luna,” Ziva defended. 

 

“Except for Luna,” Tony conceded. “There we go. No doctor’s appointments. He does have a personal trainer. Four times a week? And tomorrow, an 8:00 a.m. appointment at a Harley Davidson dealership? Either McGee’s won the lottery or he’s using Luna as a sugar mama.” 

 

Gibbs’ phone rang just then, “Yeah. Gibbs… Where?”

 

“Dead?” Tony inquired. 

 

“Sailor. Waverly campus,” Gibbs said as he hung up. “Gear up.”

 

“What about McGee? We haven’t found him yet,” Tony left McGee’s desk and went to his to grab his go-bag.

 

“I did,” Jenny came walking up. “Or rather, he found me. Sent me an email. Woke up sick. Laryngitis, won’t be coming in to work today. You know, I bet he sent you one too.”

 

Tony watched with mild curiosity as Gibbs stopped, leaned over his desk and clicked a few buttons on his computer. Gibbs glanced at the two other members of his team, “you still here?”

 

Tony and Ziva wordlessly made their way to the elevator and waited for Gibbs to join them.

 

***

Tony was taking pictures of the body when a thought occurred to him, “huh, that was quick.”

 

“Solve this case already, DiNozzo?” Gibbs was bagging a cell phone before he looked up at Tony. 

 

“No. It’s my hundredth body.” at NCIS. “Hey, listen, you wouldn’t mind taking-” Shit, that sounded better in my head. “Sorry. That’s a bad idea. It seemed less disgusting in my head.” Gotta remember, not everyone was surrounded by death from a young age. 

 

“By comparison with what else is in there, I’m sure it was,” Ziva commented as she came back from interviewing the jogger that had called in their body.

 

“Anything useful from that jogger, Ziva?” Gibbs asked. 

 

“If ‘I saw the body and I called the police’ is useful, yes. Otherwise, no. Can’t tell how long the body’s been here.” Ziva said as Ducky walked up.

 

“Luckily, of course, I can. I must apologize for our tardiness. We had trouble parking the van. Homecoming.” Ducky said the last word as if it explained all their troubles at the moment. The doctor looked around for a moment, “I would have thought McGee would have beaten me up here.”

 

“McGee’s not here,” Boss and Ducky still not getting along, huh.

 

“Really? I could have sworn I saw him in the parking lot,” Ducky said absentmindedly.

 

Tony cast a quick locator on McGee to find that he was in fact nearby, Probie probably has his reasons...I’ll trust him, for now. “Well, we’re at a college. Pencil-neck geeks are a dime a dozen.” 

 

Ducky chuckled at his joke and out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw a small silvery hare hopping around the edges of the quad. “Hey, Boss. I’m gonna go check something out.” Tony called out. 

 

Not waiting for a response he took off in the direction of the Hare and found Luna herself sitting serenely on a bench around the corner of the building, “Luna? What’s going on?” Tony knew it had to be serious for her to cast her patronus to get him. 

 

“Tim’s in trouble. Tony, his sister came by last night, covered in blood. I drew some of hers because she was acting like she had been drugged and this morning she couldn’t remember most of what had happened last night.”

 

Tony sat down next to Luna, “well, why wouldn’t Tim call us?”

 

“I think he’s worried about how his sister would be treated, Gibbs scares him. He doesn’t want his sister treated like a common criminal.”

 

“We won’t have any choice now, especially if she has anything to do with our dead sailor,” Tony sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Great, this just keeps getting better and better. “I can’t help him unless he comes in.”

 

“He knows that, he’s trying to balance his big brother side with being a federal agent,” she looked down at her hands, for the first time looking worried. “I can’t help him, Tony. He has to find the balance himself. I feel like I’m abandoning him.” 

 

“You’re not, Lu-lu. If he calls you asking for your support, would you go?”

 

“Of course,” she didn’t even have to think on it.

 

“Okay, then we’ll let Tim come to us, but if his sister is connected to this case and it comes to light that he hid her away, I’ll help him all I can, but it wouldn’t be much,” Tony looked regretfully out over the quad. “I’ll do the best I can, Lu-lu. Which will include teasing him to keep the situation light.”

 

“I know, just keep him safe. Thank you, Harry,” Luna wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly for a moment. She let go and he headed back to the scene where Ziva had just found ten dead goldfish. 

 

“Does this make it a hundred and ten?” Ziva teased at Tony. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Dental records confirm the body is Seaman Jeff Petty, currently serving on the USS Enterprise.” Gibbs hid a smile at that, he just knew that Tony was making all kinds of Star Trek jokes. “Docked at Norfolk last night.” Nathair would make Star Trek jokes too. 

 

“Navy speaking to the family?” Gibbs asked after Ziva had delivered him the information. 

 

“As we speak,” she confirmed. 

 

Ducky was hunched over a small tray that most likely held one of the dead goldfish, “a duty I do not envy. Yes, when I was an officer with the regiment, I was twice called upon to render such services. I got cursed out of both houses, yes, I much prefer combat to telling a family that one of their loved ones shall never be returning. Luckily, in this case, we are spared such a duty.”

 

Gibbs knew the doctor was still upset with him over his ‘retirement’, so he continued to keep his distance, “you got a time of death on those goldfish?”

 

“No time, but a cause.”

 

Ziva smiled across the table at Ducky, “asphyxiation. Suffocation? Over-feeding.”

 

Ducky looked like he was enjoying Ziva trying to guess the cause of death of the goldfish, “Nicotine poisoning. I just got the test results from Abby. There was enough nicotine in their blood to kill… well, to kill a goldfish. That much is certain.”

 

“How did that get there?” Something told Gibbs that the fish were connected somehow to the sailor’s death. 

 

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Ducky moved away from the goldfish and moved over to where the body of their victim was, “Yeah, the cause of death of Seaman Petty is more explicable. Sharp-force trauma to the thoracic area. Punctured the aorta, so death was almost instantaneous. The shape and depth of the wound suggests-”

 

“A combat knife,” Gibbs finished in tandem with Ducky. 

 

“We didn’t find a knife,” Ziva informed them. “All we bagged was trash.”

 

“Tell DiNozzo to keep looking.” Gibbs barked at Ziva. 

 

Ziva hunched her shoulders uncomfortably, “well, Tony went home.”

 

“He went home?” Gibbs honestly had no idea what to say to that. Usually Tony was the last one to leave before him and he knew that Tony usually came back in after even Gibbs had gone home. What the hell?

 

“He wasn’t feeling well. Thought McGee might have gotten him sick.”

 

“So he went… home?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ducky holding back an almost gleeful smile. Must be some girl he’s going home to. The thought filled him with jealous rage that he had trouble tapping down. 

 

“Well, actually, the Director told him he could go.” Ah, must have something to do with the fact that he calls her ‘Jenny.’ He turned to leave before his anger began to show on his face.

 

“I’m not done, Gibbs.” So impersonal, I miss him calling me Jethro. I miss Nathair calling me Jet. I miss having my full fucking team.

 

“Make it fast, Dr. Mallard,” he growled. 

 

“Postmortem lividity suggests that Seaman Petty was killed on scene. Tox screen came back negative; no drugs in his system.” Ducky began to explain about their victim. 

 

“His CO said he was a model sailor,” Ziva added in. 

 

“There was very little trauma beyond the entry wound.” Ducky picked up the man’s arm to show, “no scratches, no DNA in the fingernails.”

 

“He was surprised,” Ziva looked on sadly.

 

“Or he knew his killer,” Gibbs sounded bitter and angry. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony sat on the couch with his arms around the beautiful Jeanne Benoit, trying to relax himself into a feeling of peace that just wasn’t coming to him. They watched some spanish flic that he had already seen, but made it a point to sound ignorant of the film.

 

“Wait a minute. I thought they were brother and sister,” ugh, brother and sister making out. What is the appeal? 

 

“They are, but they don’t know it. Haven’t you been reading the subtitles?” Yeah, but the subtitles don’t match what they’re saying so I stopped paying attention to them. 

 

“There are subtitles?”

 

She sighed, “so much for being a film buff.” She turned off the film. 

 

“Hey! Listen, I could bore you to death with a lecture on German Expressionism in film if you’d like.” He joked, using his cover as a Film professor as the basis of the joke. 

 

She clicked her tongue, “you could never bore me.”

 

“Well, that is very sweet of you, but you underestimate me. It is my contention, Miss Benoit, that the abstract nature of Expressionism in film-” She covered his mouth, but he kept talking for a moment before he stopped and grinned at her. 

 

“What are we doing, Tony?” He knew she wasn’t asking what they were doing, from her tone she most likely was talking about their ‘relationship.’ 

 

“Well, I’m boring you with German Expressionism in film,” when in doubt, play ignorant. 

 

“We’ve been dating for a while now, don’t you find it a little curious that… we haven’t taken it to the next level?” I knew it. 

 

Hmm, keep talking about film, distract her. “You mean Italian Neo-Realism? Japanese Cinema?”

 

“No, sex.” 

 

He chuckled nervously, yeah it’ll go over real great when I try to explain that my heart still belongs to my Boss even though he abandoned me and ran off to Mexico and upon his return I not only told him about Magic, but rejected him. And the fact that before said rejection, I had been sharing kinky sex dreams with him. 

 

“Yeah, sex, right,” he tried to stall to get his brain to catch up. He had been enjoying the easy flow they had had going. He viewed her as more of a friend that he could relax with and not have to necessarily think about work. 

 

“Yeah, is that something you might be interested in?” Only if you have some whips and rope hidden away in that bedroom of yours that I’ve searched through when I know you’re not at home. 

 

He laughed nervously again, “yeah.” Except, I don’t know if I can do that with you. Maybe if I pretend. You know, my imagination is pretty powerful. 

 

“Imagination won’t satisfy in place of the real thing,” Tony fought hard not to react when he heard the voice of his old Potions Master. He knew that Jeanne wouldn’t be able to see or hear the man, but as usual, Severus Snape’s words cut to the quick.

 

“Yeah, I get that vibe from you, and yet we still haven’t had it and you don’t seem like the type who usually waits.”

 

Okay, yeah, after Ginny I played the field and found I liked casual sex for a while till I found that chains and whips excited me. Then I went to NCIS and I dated a bit to try and get a rise out of GIbbs, but nothing really compared to being under his powerful gaze.

 

“You know you still love him, tell Jeanne and Jenny to fuck off and go after what you want. Don’t make the same mistake I did, Potter.” Severus sneered at him. 

 

Yeah, but if you hadn’t made that mistake, you’d be my dad instead of James. And now I’m talking in my head to a ghost that was in love with my mother. Yeah, that’s not insane at all.

 

“Yeah, well, it could be because you remind me of my sister,” she really does remind me of Kate, and Hermione. It’s like someone went and made a clone using those two women as a basis. 

 

“You said you were an only child,” she smiled at him as she caught him in the known lie. 

 

He smiled back at her to let her know that he was joking, “I am.” 

 

“Could I have a serious answer… please?” she said softly as she looked at him sincerely. 

 

Fuck, she wants a serious answer. “I don’t want to rush things.” I have a job to do, Severus.

 

“So did I and it got your parents killed, what will your job cost you?” With that Severus dissipated and left them alone.

 

“Date two is rushing things, Tony. Date 11, that’s a violation of the Geneva Convention.” She quirked an eyebrow at him challengingly. 

 

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got. And while what I got had its perks… I’m looking for something different now,” he stared into her eyes and wished that she would let this go and they could get back to the easy, laid-back, night they had been having. 

 

“Okay, Tony, but just so you know, whenever you’re ready, so am I.” And if I’ll never be ready because my heart belongs to another? She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his. His body filled with a feeling of wrong, but he pushed it aside as he always did and responded to her. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Abby was happy. She had had a wonderful date with Marty Pearson, the only thing that bothered her was that Tony was dating some mystery woman when he was clearly still in love with Gibbs. She pushed Tony from her mind and focused on her happy from spending time with Marty.

 

“And then when we finished bowling, he walked me to my car,” she grinned over at the Director. She was fun and easy to talk to. She felt comfortable around this Director, much more comfortable than around Morrow. 

 

“And?”

 

“And he said, ‘I hope to see you soon, baby doll,’ gave me a peck on the cheek and then he left,” she was so happy with Marty.

 

“Short and sweet.” 

 

“Oh, he is.” She smiled conspiratorially at the Director. 

 

Just then Gibbs walked in, “Hey, I’ve been looking all over the building for you.”

 

Director Shepard sighed, “Since we were low on agents, I thought I’d give Abby a hand.”

 

“The only reason we are low on agents is because you sent DiNozzo home.” Gibbs looked at Jenny as if he were trying to get information out of her. As if he were interrogating her, it made Abby uneasy.

 

Jenny scoffed, “well, there’s no sense in getting us all sick.”

 

Before Gibbs could have a chance to argue back, Abby stepped in, “next time you send one of my team home, you clear it with me first, Director!” 

 

Gibbs looked at her, unamused. Jenny looked like she was trying to hold back laughter. Abby just plowed on through, “Oh, I didn’t know I needed your permission to manage my own personnel, Agent Gibbs.”

 

She went back to mimicking Gibbs, “your personnel?” 

 

Back to Jenny, “Last time I checked it said Director on my door, not yours.” 

 

She glanced up guiltily at them both, “the kids don’t like it when Mommy and Daddy fight.” That’s what it felt like, Tony was her brother, Ducky was the grandpa, Tim was becoming more and more like a brother, Gibbs was like the papa bear and Jenny was kind of like mama bear. Although she really didn’t want to think about what it meant that Brother Tony was in love with Papa Bear Gibbs. 

 

“You got the call log off the cell phone we found on Seaman Petty?” Gibbs turned the conversation away from dangerous territory and back to the case. 

 

“There was damage on the DC run to the SIM chip, probably from the fall.” She turned on the phone, “okay. Wow, 15 missed text messages. Someone’s really trying to get ahold of-” Suddenly it started ringing, “oh no, what do I do? Do I answer it?” 

 

“Put it on speaker?” Gibbs gently told her. 

 

She did as he told her, “hello?”

 

“Finally, where the hell are you?” came the angry voice of McGee on the other side of the phone. 

 

“McGee?” Gibbs asked. Oh, no, Timmy’s in trouble.

 

“Boss? Why do you have my sister’s cell phone?” 

 

“I got a better question for you. What is your sister’s cell phone doing on my dead body?” Abby could hear the unspoken, shit running through Timmy’s head. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tim stood stoically in the elevator where Gibbs had told him to wait. The door opened and the people before him got out and he saw Tony checking his watch. He glared as Tony waved sarcastically as the elevator doors closed again. Finally Gibbs stormed into the elevator and Tim stood as straight as he could. 

 

“What were you thinking, McGee?!”

 

Tim didn’t say anything for a second longer as he ordered his thoughts one last time, “I would apologize, but I know how you feel about that.” 

 

He saw the raw fury in his boss’ eyes before Gibbs turned around and slammed his hand down on the emergency stop. 

 

“You got your voice back,” Tim inwardly winced at the calling out of his lie. 

 

“I never lost it,” Tim admitted. 

 

“No kidding?!” Gibbs stood nose to nose with the young agent. 

 

“I know withholding evidence is a violation of NCIS policy-”

 

“And a crime. One that I don’t really care about. Why didn’t you come to me?” 

 

He couldn’t look into his boss’ eyes just then. “I was going to. When I saw the body, I- I knew I had to bring Sarah in.”

 

“No, before that.” 

 

He looked into Gibbs’ eyes then, “I couldn’t take that chance. I don’t know what my sister did or didn’t do. But I know what it looked like. And we say ‘better ten guilty men go free than one innocent get punished’, but I know from experience it doesn’t always work out like that. I couldn’t take that chance with Sarah. Not with the police, not with NCIS. Not even with you. She’s my sister.”

 

Gibbs turned for a moment and started the elevator up again, “apology accepted.” 

 

Gibbs turned and Tim was left to stare at the back of his boss’ head. Family first. Guess that makes sense considering his own family. Tim felt a part of him relax at the obvious evidence that he had been accepted into their little family at NCIS. 

 

They exited the elevator to find Tony and Ziva clicking through pictures of Sarah on the plasma. 

 

“They’re here,” Tim heard Ziva warn Tony.

 

“I thought for sure probie would be limping. Getting, uh, soft, in your old age there, boss? Prime of your youth, sir?” Gibbs sent a withering glare at Tony’s joke. 

 

Ziva awkwardly pointed to the picture, “we needed it for the BOLO.”

 

“Please tell me that’s not for-” Panic flooded Tim for a moment. 

 

“Citing a bench warrant for Grand Theft Auto,” Tim could tell that Tony was trying to be helpful.

 

“Guess that’s better than a BOLO for murder,” he conceded.

 

“We need to find her, McGee. Right now, she’s our main suspect,” Ziva’s tone may have been gentle, but her words weren’t.

 

“Witness,” Tim firmly corrected. 

 

Gibbs started speaking then, “spoke to the taxi driver who picked your sister up. He places her at the crime scene.” 

 

Tim grit his teeth as Tony opened his mouth, “and Abby confirmed the blood type found on your sister’s clothes, matches Seaman Petty. That’s more than witness, probie.”

 

“What about the vial of blood that was among the evidence, that was Sarah’s blood from that night.” He knew he sounded like he was pleading, but he had to believe his sister was innocent.

 

“Abby tested that too, apparently she was roofied,” Tony conceded.

 

“But then there are the emails, like the one that starts ‘Dear Man Whore’ and ends with ‘if I ever see you again, I will kill you. Love, Sarah.’” Ziva argued. 

 

“Got them off Seaman Petty’s email.” Tony winced as if he didn’t want to continue to add to the pile of evidence against his sister.

 

“Throw it all together and it adds up to Motive and Opportunity.” Ziva announced. 

 

“Why is she running,” Gibbs asked Tim directly.

 

Tim sighed, “she’s mad. She’s scared. Says she has nothing to do with the murder. Thinks I don’t believe her.”

 

“Do you?” Ziva asked him point blank. 

 

“Sarah’s not a killer.” was all he could say for 100% certain.

 

“But?” Gibbs prompted.

 

“But an accident’s another story. Since she was drugged…”

 

“Any other suspects,” Gibbs barked.

 

“Maybe Seaman Petty’s cheerleader girlfriend.” Tony suggested. 

 

Ziva added on to Tony’s suggestion. “At least your sister’s not the only one writing threatening e-mails.”

 

“Cheerleader was worried Popeye was getting his spinach somewhere else,” Tony elaborated on his suggestion. 

 

“Address?” Gibbs snapped his fingers at Tony. “Ziva, I want that taxi impounded. DiNozzo, you’re on McGee’s sister.”

 

Tim saw the lecherous grin and felt his hackles raise, “ah, with great pleasure, boss.” 

 

“Boss, maybe Tony would be better on the taxi-”

 

“McGee,” Gibbs interrupted. 

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Go home. I can’t have you working this case,” Gibbs was heading towards the elevator. 

 

Tim couldn’t help shouting after Gibbs, “if I go home, how do you know I won’t keep working on it?” 

 

He watched Gibbs flounder for a second before waving for him to follow. Tim quickly grabbed his gear and stopped at Tony’s desk, “Tony, this is my little sister, I swear if you so much as look at her wrong I will sic Luna on you.” 

 

Tony smiled a charming smile, “wouldn’t have it any other way, probie.” 

 

***

Tim was now standing outside the room that Gibbs was talking with Katie Hutchinson, Petty’s girlfriend. He ignored the music that annoyed him to no end as he tried to distract himself with watching what the college students were doing wrong with their water gun. They opened a door and he winced as he remembered being the guy tied to the chair. 

 

“This is Jeff in Bahrain.” he tried to ignore what they were saying, he really did. 

 

“Handsome kid,” Gibbs said. Handsome enough for my sister to fall for him and for him to break her heart. 

 

Tim refocused on the attempt at the gun in front of him. Unluckily for him one of the female students leaned over the table at that moment as he was staring intently at them. He didn’t even hear what she had told the guys in front of him as his feet drew him closer. 

 

“Seen enough?” Her direct question brought him out of his mind and he shook his head. 

 

“No, no, no, actually, um… I was checking the water gun here. The check valve is on backwards. If you flip this…” He glanced up and saw the empty fish tank on the other side of the room. He remembered Tony and Ziva telling him about the ten goldfish that had been found near Seaman Petty. 

 

“We did. We were going to get married.” He heard the cheerleader say as he poked his head into the room to tell Gibbs about the fish. “You better make her pay for this.” 

 

Gibbs sent him a look that said to wait, “who?”

 

“That jealous bitch, Sarah McGee.” Tim went back to his leaning post and glared into the room at her words. “She couldn’t deal with the fact that Jeff wanted me instead of her. She sent him threatening emails, she trashed me in her blog.”

 

“Blog?” Tim rolled his eyes as the predictable question from his boss. 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“What’s a blog?”

 

“It’s a… blog. You know.”

 

“No, I don’t know.” 

 

“It’s something losers put online so that everyone can read. Are you going to arrest her or not? I saw her at the food court with her geek friends. When she found out that Jeff was coming to meet me, she left to find him.” her accusations spurred the big brother in him and he couldn’t stop himself. 

 

“How did you know she just didn’t leave?” 

 

“Because she killed him?” the cheerleader shouted at him. 

 

“Boss…” Gibbs got into his space until he backed out of the room. 

 

“I told you to wait outside.”

 

“Why didn’t you ask her about the emails?” Tim knew the big brother in him was at the forefront instead of the investigator. A part of him knew that Gibbs had a plan, but he couldn’t just blindly trust it like Tony seemed to. 

 

“Maybe I don’t want her to know that I know about the emails, McGee. There’s a reason I told you to stay outside.”

 

“And there’s a reason that I came in.” He turned his head and nodded to the fish tank, “look.” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony poked his head into Autopsy, “Ducky? Gremlin?”

 

“Ah, Tony!” Ducky’s jovial voice carried over to him. “Mr. Palmer has just left on an errand, what can I do for you, my boy.”

 

Tony entered the rest of the way and leaned against one of the tables and rubbed his neck. He knew his stance was awkward as hell, but he really didn’t know what to do. He needed to talk to someone, but he really didn’t want to keep talking to the dead about this stuff. Palmer knew it all, but he wasn’t available. 

 

“I, uh, I need some advice, Duck,” Tony crossed his arms in front of him defensively. 

 

“Concerning what?”

 

“Well, uh,” he chuckled awkwardly, “I’m finding, uh, myself in a particularly odd situation with someone… special.”

 

“Ah, that new mystery girlfriend of yours I’ve heard so much about?”

 

“Yeah,” he cleared his throat, “We-we’ve been going out for a while now and we, well, we haven’t done something that I usually do,” Tony ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up even further, “you know a- a lot earlier than, well, now.” 

 

“May I ask what is holding you back from doing as you usually do?”

 

Tony chuckled awkwardly, “I care for her, Duck, but I don’t feel any kind of desire to tell her the truth, ya know?”

 

Ducky nodded understandingly, “ah, then why are you with her?”

 

Tony winced, because I was ordered to get close to her because she’s La Grenouille’s daughter. “Well, I do like her, I care for her. I really do.”

 

Ducky shot him a look, Yeah that sounded like I was trying to convince myself too. 

 

“It’s just, I need to get over him, Duck.” Ducky raised an eyebrow as if asking who him was. Tony shot him a look back, “you know I only play at stupid. You know exactly what him I’m referring to.” Ducky smiled conspiratorially at him. “I’m just- I’m finding myself reluctant to take that next step with her because- because of those two little hang-ups. Am I just trying to forget him and replace him with meaningless sex. I mean, it’s not the first time I’ve done that, but I had hoped not to have to go back to that. Then there’s the fact that I have no burning desire to tell her about my magic or any of my other secrets. I know I don’t want to share my life with her, but-”

 

“Tony,” Ducky interrupted his rambling, “you are stressed, maybe you need a release. You care for this woman and she obviously cares for you. Enjoy it while it lasts, my boy.” Ducky smiled encouragingly at Tony. Just then Tony’s phone started ringing. 

 

“DiNozzo,” came the instinctual greeting. 

 

“BOLO just came back on McGee’s sister. Campus security has her,” Ziva was on the other end, he could hear the clacking of the keyboard in the background. 

 

“Well, let Gibbs know. He’s there with McGee.” 

 

“I did. He wants us to bring her in.”

 

“Okay, I’ll be right there.” Tony hung up the phone. “Thanks for listening, Duck.”

 

“Any time, my boy, any time,” Ducky affectionately patted his arm as he left Autopsy. 

 

***

Security Officer Tate (read with the highest amount of sarcasm) led Tony and Ziva through the campus library. One of the librarians had reported her, apparently she slept at the library, a lot.

 

“Ah, how McGee-ish of her,” Ziva smiled jokingly back at him.

 

“Must be in the McGee-nome,” Tony automatically quipped back. 

 

“You want her for more than GTA, don’t you,” Tate asked them with a gleeful smile and a happy rub of his hands. “I didn’t have the authority to arrest her, but if you want me to…”

 

Ziva smacked the rent-a-cop’s shoulder, “we’ll take it from here.” 

 

They walked up and Tony cleared his throat to make their presence known. She didn’t even look up, “no you can’t have my number.” 

 

Tony showed his badge, “I already have your number, Sarah.” He said it as gently as he could. 

 

“It’s not what you guys think.” It was obvious that she had been crying, Tony sat down in the chair across from hers, “my eyes water when I read a lot, and these lights are really crappy. Are you guys here to arrest me?”

 

Tony shared a look with Ziva before he answered, “No.”

 

“You do have to come with us, though,” Ziva spoke with a hardness in her voice that made him send her another look. 

 

“Yeah, sure,” Sarah gathered her books and as she was putting her English Lit book in her bag she asked them almost bitterly, “you guys are just being nice to me ‘cause Tim’s my big brother?” 

 

Tony’s mouth ran off before he could think, “no. I’m always nice to hot girls.” He smiled charmingly at her and she graced him with a chuckle. 

 

“You must be Tommy,” She smiled at him.

 

What? Is that what McGee called me in that little book of his? He gave her the expected look of confusion, “Tony.” 

 

“Sorry. In Tim’s book, you’re Tommy.” He cocked his head at her even as he berated Tim’s lack of ingenuity over his name in his head. “Which would make you, Lisa?”

 

He had to work really hard not to laugh at the expression on Ziva’s face. They stopped at a bookstore and Sarah pointed out Deep Six, written by Thom E. Gemcity. Tony had a momentary flinch at the anagram of Timothy McGee’s name. Bad memories with anagrams. Sarah told them all about Tommy, Lisa, and their boss L.J. Tibbs. Tony couldn’t hold back the facepalm at Gibbs’ mangled name. He kept the conversation light in the car and up the elevator, revelling in the chance to make Tim squirm a little over this. 

 

They got up to the squad room to find Tim angrily pacing the bullpen. Looking very much like an angry bull himself. Tony took a moment to chuckle to himself at the mental images. 

 

“Where have you been,” Tim only had eyes for his sister. 

 

“The library. I told you I had to study,” sounding every bit the petulant teenager. “You know, Tony is much cuter than Tommy.” 

 

Tony grinned at the look of dread crossed Tim’s face, “Tommy?”

 

“Hmm,” Tony held up his copy of Deep Six and ran his fingers across the cover, “you know if you rearrange these letters, you get-”

 

“Timothy McGee,” Ziva grinned as she stalked up to Tim next to him.

 

Tim turned a glare on to Sarah, who shrugged innocently, “you should have told me it was a secret.”

 

“Can’t wait to read about your swashbuckling, socially repugnant, Special Agent Tommy,” Tony grinned.

 

Ziva laughed next to him, “and Lisa. The sultry and emotionally distant Mossad Officer.”

 

Tony lowered his voice to his Gibbs impersonation, “or their boss. L.J. Tibbs, ‘who drinks to alleviate the burden of is messianic complex.’” Tony slammed the book shut and rocked on his feet, “Where is L.J., Dead-agent-walking?”

 

“Evidence Garage,” Tim glanced between them, patience obviously reaching it’s end as he glared between them all. Tony grinned and tauntingly waved the book around as he headed for the elevator. “Tony?”

 

Tony ran for the elevator as he heard everyone follow him. He kept bouncing jovially as the elevator took them to their destination. He stepped out, “Hey, boss-” He cut himself off as he saw what Abby was holding. 

 

Abby was holding the murder weapon itself as she and Gibbs stood beside the taxi. Shit. 

 

“You didn’t find that in the taxi, did you?” Tim asked before they all turned as one and looked at Sarah. All sense of joking gone from Tony as he kept his gaze as comforting as he could. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Sarah threatened to kill Seaman Petty by e-mail. A taxi picked her up near the crime scene at the time of the murder. The blood on her clothes matches the victim’s and her fingerprints are on the murder weapon. Other than being your sister and a vial of blood that your girlfriend had thoughtfully drew, is there any other evidentiary reason why she shouldn’t be charged?” Director Shepard stared over at Tim with a hard look in her eye. 

 

She was exactly the type that Tim had been trying to protect Sarah from. Shepard would just look at all the other evidence and not even take into account who his sister was before making the conclusion that she was guilty. 

 

“But she is my sister, Director, and she was drugged.” Tim pushed any and all of his confidence in his sister into his voice. “Sarah may have a temper, but she lashes out with her mouth or a pen, not a knife.”

 

“And I hope you have more to offer than brotherly love, Agent McGee,” she bit sharply back at him.

 

He glared at her as hard as he could, “the vial of blood that Luna took matches my sister and was done while I watched. It indicates that she was in fact drugged and when she showed up at my door, she was groggy, barely able to walk. She couldn’t remember anything except leaving the food court.”

 

“And any tests we would have done would have metabolized in her system. It’s only because of your girlfriend that we have even that much to go off of.”

 

“I know, I should have brought her in-”

 

“But you didn’t,” she interrupted him. He tried his hardest not to look at Gibbs as his boss’ head swiveled back and forth between the two of them. If it had been just about any other situation, Tim would have basked in the grins of pride he saw Gibbs shooting him. “Agent DiNozzo and Officer David did. So your actions, or should I say inactions, did nothing to help your sister, but it did impugn the integrity of this agency.”

 

Tim couldn’t hold back the anger and frustration at the whole situation any longer. He stood as he glared angrily at the woman, “forgive me, Director, for not putting the integrity of NCIS before my sister.” He angrily tossed his badge and gun onto the table. “It won’t happen again.” 

 

He was most of the way down the stairs when Gibbs called his name and his body stopped before he could tell it otherwise. He shook his head and kept going, maybe this will be a good thing. I can spend more time with Luna, working on my next book, travel a bit. He heard Gibbs call out for him again, this time closer than last time. He sighed and turned to look back at his boss. 

 

“Boss, don’t try and talk me out of this.” He let Gibbs catch up to him, but was taken by surprise by the headslap to the back of his head.

 

“Never let someone manipulate you like that again. Not even the Director.” Gibbs stalked off. Wait, what? 

 

“She wanted me to quit?”

 

“That’s her job, to protect NCIS. Come here. Sit down.” Gibbs pointed to his own desk for Tim to sit in and in any other situation, Tim had always felt honored to sit at Gibbs’ desk. Not today. 

 

“Boss, you don’t think-”

  
  


“You sit down here until I get back,” Gibbs opened the drawer that held his own gun and badge while in the building and placed Tim’s on top of his.

 

Tim finally sat down at the desk and looked around anxiously for a second, “Boss, you don’t think Sarah did it, do you?” He let the fear he had been holding at bay shine in his eyes as he looked up at his boss. 

 

“I don’t know, McGee. I’ll know after I interrogate her.”

 

“Well, can I watch?”

 

“No.”

 

“Please? From observation?”

 

“No!” He knew Gibbs was getting pissy with having to repeat himself, but Tim’s drive to protect his sister overrode any sense of self preservation. 

 

“Boss, I can’t just sit here.”

 

Tim didn’t know if it was planned or not, with Gibbs you never knew. The man was certainly lucky enough, but he slapped down Tim’s book and told him, “read a book.” He held his head in his hands as he heard the elevator ding for Gibbs to carry the man closer to his sister. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs walked in and recognized the girl from various forms of DiNozzo’s teasing of McGee over the years. He didn’t want to coddle the girl and knew that she would lash out at him by yelling if he got her pissed off. SIbling rivalry? He saw that she was reading a textbook and moved her arm out of the way so he could see what subject it was. 

 

She pulled her arms into her lap and leaned back in her chair. English Literature. “What’s your major?”

 

“English lit.” he heard the combativeness in her voice. She wanted a fight. 

 

Okay, I’ll give you one. “You intend to be a writer like your brother?” 

 

She looked down at her book, “I intend to be a writer.”

 

He narrowed his eyes at her, “why the smart-ass answer?”

 

“What?” as if no one else had called her out on it. 

 

“You put your brother down,” he sat down in his own chair and leaned back comfortably.

 

“No, I didn’t.” Yep, definitely sibling rivalry. 

 

“Yeah, you did. He just resigned because of you.” He knew that she cared for Tim. He watched her eyes as they turned from defensive to distraught.

 

“No! But Tim loves NCIS, it was the perfect way to get dad off his back for not joining the Navy.” 

 

Gibbs rocked his head to the side, “evidently he loves you more than he does NCIS and cares more about what happens to you than the opinions of your father.” 

 

He watched her sob out a couple tears. Little sister, probably the youngest. Treasured, always had Tim to take the blame probably. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Fake tears don’t bother me,” Gibbs called her out on it. 

 

“I don’t fake tears,” sure you do. You’re the youngest. I’ve seen all kinds of sibling relationships and every little sister knows how to fake tears. 

 

“Just lapses in memory,” he threw that out there to get them on to the train of thought that would give him what he needed. 

 

“I don’t remember!” He stared at her. “I just get- quick film cuts.” Yeah, I remember that stage of memory loss. Hell, I still feel that way in regards to Nathair. 

 

“Hold on to ‘em.” 

 

“I can’t.” Oh, yes you can.

 

“Guess you don’t want to.” 

 

“I do-”

 

“If you did, you’d remember.” He nodded seriously at her.

 

“And how would you know?”

 

“I’ve been there.” He watched a familiar expression cross her face. He internally rolled his eyes, it was the same look that McGee had gotten right before he had told Metro that he had shot the detective while the detective had been unarmed. Gibbs had made it a point to watch the video from that interrogation. She was about to confess to the whole thing.

 

“I stabbed him.” Self-incriminating family, ugh. “I stabbed Jeff!” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He didn’t see Abby come running up, he was so lost in running through the evidence all over again as well as the events of the past few days. “Tim! What’s your sister’s favorite pizza?”

 

“What?”

 

“Her favorite pizza? Come on, Tim, it’s not a trick question.”

 

“Uh, cheeseless with pickles, Tabasco and peanut butter,” What the fuck?

 

Abby started jumping around, “yes! Yes, yes.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I found out how your sister was doped. Where’s Gibbs? Where’s everybody?”

 

“Interrogation.”

 

“Well, go get ‘em and bring ‘em down to my lab. There’s more!” Abby and Tim split up and Tim raced down to Interrogation. 

 

“Abby’s got great news!” He burst into Observation to see his sister sobbing her eyes out in front of Gibbs. With Ziva and Tony looking sadly out through the two-way mirror. “What did Gibbs do to my sister?”

 

“Nothing,” Tony seemed quick to reassure him that Gibbs hadn’t done anything to Sarah. “She admitted to stabbing Seaman Petty.”

 

Tim ran out of Observation and burst into Interrogation, “Sarah doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

 

“McGee…” Gibbs shook his head, but Tim ignored it. 

 

“Boss, she was drugged. While we had her blood from that night, Abby found other proof.”

 

Gibbs nodded, “stay with her.”

 

Gladly. “Hey, hey.” He squat and tried to get her attention onto him. 

 

“I remember the knife,” his heart clenched at the raw pain he saw in his sister’s eyes. “I remember Jeff lying there.”

 

“No, no, no, no, my little sister could never kill anyone.” He pulled Sarah into his arms and was grateful as her arms wrapped around him in return. She clung to him and sobbed into his jacket until she calmed down.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs stalked to Abby’s lab with DiNozzo and Ziva following after. Abby had kindly spread out all her evidence for them beforehand and was explaining what she had done, “I was pouring over all the forensic evidence: the trash from the crime scene and every inch of the taxi and I realized that the floor mat smelled like Nilosorb.”

 

“Nilosorb?” DiNozzo asked eagerly. Gibbs had no idea what the man was thinking when Tony picked up the mat and took a big whiff of the mat. 

 

He coughed as Gibbs explained, “Industrial vomit cleaner.” He held back a chuckle at Tony’s second cough. 

 

“So I took what was left on there and ran it through the mass spec and found what McGee has confirmed to be Sarah’s favorite late-night snack: cheeseless pizza with Tabasco, pickles, and peanut butter.”

 

“Yuck,” Ziva cringed at the combination. Gibbs was reminded of some of Shannon’s more eccentric food combinations when she had been pregnant with Kelly. The twinge of pain was followed by a flow of warmth that he felt from his pocket where his wallet was. 

 

Abby continued as if none of this had happened, “but I also found traces of sodiumoxybate, aka GHB. It didn’t show up in her urine sample because it metabolizes so quickly. Which is probably what makes it such a popular date-rape drug.”

 

“You think Seaman Petty tried to rape her?” Tony volunteered. Gibbs had noticed that DiNozzo was trying to be supportive of Tim while keeping the whole situation light and easy. With that statement it was easy to see that Tony was on Sarah’s defense.

 

“Her ex-boyfriend?” Ziva raised an eyebrow curiously.

 

“There nothing like a death threat from an ex-girlfriend to get your dander up,” if it weren’t for the serious face Tony was pulling, Gibbs would have thought he was joking again. So death threats get your dander up, eh, DiNozzo? Ugh, why am I even thinking about DiNozzo like that, I don’t even want him. I want Nathair. 

 

“Are you talking from experience, Tony?” Ziva chuckled and Gibbs almost missed the quick glance of her eyes from Tony to Gibbs. Huh, I wonder what that’s about?

 

“Luckily we had Luna looking out for us and she took a blood sample. I managed to confirm from both the vomit and the blood that the levels of GHB in her system the window of exposure. She was dosed at the food court.”

 

“DiNozzo.” 

 

Gibbs didn’t even get to finish his order before DiNozzo interrupted, “Pull the security tapes from the food court, on it boss.”

 

“Ziva.” He didn’t bother instructing her, hoping that she caught onto the thought pattern like DiNozzo had.

 

“Names of food workers, janitors and anyone working that night.”

 

Gibbs turned to follow after Ziva and waited until Ziva was out of the lab before he turned back to Abby, “W-what was I gonna tell you?” 

 

She blinked at him innocently, “I don’t know. What were you going to tell me, El Magnifico?” 

 

He walked up close to her and quickly pecked her on the cheek. “Good Job.” 

 

She smiled at him before he turned to walk away again when she called him back with four words that would always have him come running during a case, “But I have more. I solved the mystery of the smoking goldfish. At first, I couldn’t figure out how they were light the cigarettes underwater, and then I found this.” She picked up the evidence bag that held a piece of trash from the crime scene. “They were trying to kick the habit. Our little Nemos were swimming in a bag that had sprung a leak.” She pulled out the bag in question as she rambled about the tenses of ‘Springing’ a leak. “Sprang a leak… sprung, sprang, sprung…”

 

He quickly put gloves on and gently took the bag from her. “Anyway, so their little lives flashed before their eyes in a nicotine buzz. Hey, do you think, since goldfish only have three seconds of memory-”

 

“Abby,” Gibbs interrupted her rambling, “get Ducky on that.” He pointed to the small screen that allowed him to talk to Ducky from Abby’s lab. He walked over and looked at the unfamiliar piece of technology. 

 

“I don’t know, Gibbs. That is a very complicated piece of equipment. Probably have to go get my manual out…” he could tell she was stalling him and with this and he didn’t know why she was upset with him too, but he didn’t have time to figure out what her issues were just then.

 

“Abbs!” She smiled at him with an expectant raised eyebrow before she reached over and pushed a single button on the gadget. 

 

“Ducky!” 

 

“Yes, my little lotus blossom,” Gibbs hid his reaction at the reminder of their closeness. He missed his friend, but he didn’t want to really face Ducky’s reaction if he asked about the magic Tony had showed him last time Franks was in town. He figured if anyone could possibly know more about magic, it would be Ducky. But what if I ask him and he thinks I’m nuts? Then there’s the fact he’s mad at me. 

 

“Gibbs wants you,” Gibbs quickly pulled his head back to the case, always the case. Think of the case and you won’t have to think of losing Shannon and Kelly. 

 

“You know when the goldfish died?” Again he felt warmth radiating from the pocket that held his wallet. He figured it was some kind of magic that was embedded in the wallet. It had been a gift from Nathair, or had that been Tony? Gah, I can’t remember which. Case, Gibbs, Think of the case. 

 

“Well, I was just determining the time they expired.”

 

“You’re using a tiny liver probe,” Abby bounced over his shoulder and he was reminded of how Kelly could have been. He smiled a little before his brain caught up and he realized the wallet in his pocket seemed to be radiating a feeling of peace. It’s probably magic, but does that mean Nathair’s magical. Fuck, who was the wallet from? 

 

“Being cold-blooded, temperature is useless in determining the time of death.”

 

Gibbs rolled his eyes, partially in annoyance to himself and how his own thoughts have been so distracted with this case. Mostly the eyeroll was with how off kilter his team been as of late and now McGee was going off on his own and not trusting him. That had stung a little, but he could understand where McGee was coming from.

 

If he had been in McGee’s position, he didn’t know what he would have done, actually he did. He had already proven that he would do whatever was necessary for family when he had gone after Pedro Hernandez. Not everyone knew that, however, he figured Mike knew, but he didn’t think anyone else had figured it out. Tim wouldn’t have known that, so he couldn’t hold it against him when Tim had hid Sarah from them. 

 

“So you don’t know,” Gibbs forced his thoughts back to the case… again. 

 

“Au contraire. They died about the same time as our victim.” He walked off to utilize that information before his mind could distract itself again. He stood in the elevator for a moment before he hit the emergency stop to give himself a moment. His hand flew through his hair in a familiar gesture. He remembered Nathair doing it on particularly hard cases, but then he had seen Tony doing that habit more and more often. 

 

He had noticed the tenseness in Tony’s shoulders and wondered when the worry had set in. At first he had watched Tony closely looking for tells that would indicate magical use, not that he had any idea of what to look for in the first place. Still, he wondered when his worry over his SFA had appeared, has it always been there? I know that when the dreams were happening, Tony was more relaxed on a subliminal level. Gah! Now I’m thinking about pre-explosion Tony which I keep confusing with Nathair. Now is not the time to think about that. Case. Think about the Case.

 

Sarah arrived at McGee’s.

 

Taxi picked her up from Waverly Campus where the body of a dead sailor was found.

 

Sarah was showing obvious signs of being drugged.

 

Her older brother is a NCIS agent, Tim would definitely have drilled into her safe drinking habits, despite the fake ID we found and confiscated. 

 

However blood sample taken from that time helped build a time frame of when she could have been drugged.

 

She was drugged and she was picked up from Seaman Petty’s corpse.

 

Who drugged Sarah?

 

Why did they drug her?

 

The girlfriend mentioned that Sarah had written about the cheerleaders in her blog, whatever the hell that was.

 

He would set Ziva on finding the blog, vlog, whatever. He flipped the switch to start the elevator and strode confidently into the bullpen. He saw that Tony already had the security video up on the plasma. “Track Sarah McGee from the time she enters until she leaves.” 

 

“Ah, okay.” Tony fumbled around at the computer and Gibbs rolled his eyes. He didn’t need to be reminded that they needed Tim. “Ah-ah, oops.” Ziva laughed at Tony’s supposed ineptitude, but Gibbs’ mind was left to wander again. 

 

How do I know for sure he’s faking?

  
  


Glance at his eyes, his shoulders, they’re tense, defensive. He’s trying to protect Tim, but teasing Tim when he’s around so that Tim knows the status quo hasn’t changed between them. 

 

Tony’s keeping normalcy for Tim when he’s around and playing inept at tech when he’s not. 

 

A smile tugged at Gibbs’ lips as he thought about Tony and how protective his second in command was over the whole team. Except him. Tony’s right, I abandoned him when I went off to Mexico. We should talk about that. Maybe I can ask him some more about that magic stuff and whether or not it was him or Nathair that gave me the wallet. 

 

“I’m sorry boss, one second,” He heard his title from the being that filled his thoughts and felt some kind of inward preen at being called boss. Even after all this he was called boss. 

 

“DiNozzo?” Gibbs gave him a look that he hoped would say that he got the message, Tim was irreplaceable. Got it.

 

Tony continued to smash at his keyboard, message not received. Got it you’re still upset over that too. Think I need to make it a point to talk to Tony and Ducky… and Abby. Something has definitely crawled into Abby’s craw with him. It wasn’t obvious, but it was there. She was upset with him over something, but she was too happy that he was back to do anything outright.

 

Wait, he wants McGee involved, he wants to go get McGee. God, how can I be so slow today? This whole Nathair/Tony thing has me all twisted up and then to throw magic into things. 

 

“Froze. This is more of a McGeek thing.” 

 

“Get him.”

 

He kept his gaze on the plasma so he wouldn’t watch Tony’s ass as he went past. He had made a promise to himself. Rule 12, damnit. “You know what a clog is?” Case, think about the case.

 

“A shoe or a blocked drain?” 

 

“On the internet,” he tried to clarify.

 

“I thought that was a blog, but, uh, my English is often wrong.” No, you’re probably right, but with the image I’ve portrayed at work, I can’t tell you that. 

 

“Sarah McGee wrote a blog trashing her and the cheerleaders,do you think you could find it?” he pointed at the group of cheerleaders sitting a table away from Sarah’s table. 

 

“Probably on MySpace. Who is she?”

 

“Seaman Petty’s girlfriend, Sarah’s ex-roommate.”

 

What if they set her up to be raped? 

 

Things began to fall into place in his mind as he waited for McGee to arrive. The use of GHB? How does Seaman Petty work into this then? He was coming onto campus to try to surprise his girlfriend. What if he came upon the attempted rape scene and tried to stop it? Then Seaman Petty gets killed with a knife that was most likely there to scare a drugged Sarah into being raped. Which means that if it’s the cheerleaders that drugged her, they had to have had help from someone. 

 

He walked over to Ziva’s computer and hovered over her. They needed proof. She typed in a few things and it miraculously came up on the first hit. He blinked for a second at how fast they had found it. Ziva didn’t seem to question it however, and went into reading it.

 

“These peppy little girls all skanked up to the nines in their adorable cheerleading uniforms, which had been mistakenly ordered in children’s sizes, were engaged in strangely homoerotic, adderol-fueled spastic movements that they called dance routine.” 

 

“Where’s that from?” Tony glanced around, it looked like he was hoping it wasn’t incriminating Sarah. 

 

Sarah may have a temper, but she lashes out with her mouth or a pen, not a knife.

 

McGee’s description of his sister certainly meshed with what was written here. 

 

“That’s my blog.” 

 

Tony chuckled, “you should let your sister ghost write for you, probie.” There’s the usual teasing to keep things normal for Tim. 

 

“Find your sister entering the food court.” He led Tim over to the computer. “How do you get a ready-made cheeseless pizza with Tabasco sauce, pickles and peanut butter?” 

 

“Oh, I make it myself,” he heard Sarah behind him. “Food court has everything but peanut butter, so I carry a jar in my backpack.” Peanut Butter!

 

“McGee, isolate her table.” There they saw one of the cheerleaders messing with Sarah McGee’s backpack, the head cheerleader if he wasn’t mistaken. 

 

“That bitch! She roofied me,” Sarah’s indignant shout was followed by a look of remembering. “That security officer! He was always creeping me out, following me.”

 

“He seemed eager for us to arrest her, wasn’t he, Ziva?” Tony spoke up. There’s my missing player.

 

“Hey, can I pull a little sister card?” Sarah suddenly asked with anger in her eyes. Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her in a silent, go on. “Can I be there when you confront her. 

 

***

Tim walked up with Tony at his side, though he’d never admit it, he had appreciated all the teasing Tony had done had made this case feel as normal as possible. He tried to keep a bored look on his face as he and Tony stood before the cheerleader.

 

“Seen enough of my ass?” she asked cockily. Now that he knew the truth, he could see the underlying worry on the young woman’s face. 

 

“What do you think, Tony?”

 

“I don’t know. There’s a lot to see.” Tim was impressed as Tony flashed his badge and roughly pulled the cigarette out of her hand.

 

“Stay the hell away from me, jerk.” She pulled herself away from Tony.

 

“It’s amazing what a college education does for a girl’s vocabulary, don’t you think?” 

 

“Astonishing,” again Tim was glad for the familiar banter and was happy to see Luna had been right, he could trust Tony. Oh God, Luna. I need to call her and let her know how everything turned out.He frowned at the cheerleader and grabbed her arm to pull her around to face his approaching sister. “I believe you know my sister.”

 

He kept silent as Sarah slapped the other girl, “That was for spiking my peanut butter.” Another slap, he swore he saw Tony hold back a smile. “and that was for setting me up to be raped.”

 

Tony took his cue and began to cuff the girl in front of them, “and this is for being an accessory to murder.”

 

“What?”

 

“Madison?” Katie Hutchinson chimed in.

 

“They’re framing me. I didn’t do anything.” 

 

Tim pulled his head around to face her, “we got you starring in the food court show.”

 

“Spiking Sarah’s peanut butter with GHB.”

 

“Oh, yeah, try proving that from a security camera.”

 

Sarah stepped in again, “your greasy paw prints are all over my peanut butter jar.”

 

“Then we have you leaving the food court with Officer Tate.” Tim smiled smugly until Katie spoke again.

 

“You murdered Jeff?”

 

“No!” Tim and Tony knew what would come next, “I was just using Tate to get even for this bitch’s blog. And Jeff saw Tate grappling with her and tried to play hero. Tate stabbed him. I dropped everything and ran.”

 

Just then, as if they’d planned it or something, Officer Tate came up with Ziva and Gibbs, “You stabbed him! Put the knife in her hand, put the cell phone in his pocket.”

 

“You lying bastard!”

 

“Lying bitch!”

 

That was all the information they would give, so it was understandable when Gibbs yelled for Tony and Ziva to get them out of there. Tim couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he heard Tony, “you have the right to be silent, you have the right to do splits…”

 

His smile turned from amusement to pride as his sister turned to Katie, “I’m sorry. Jeff was a great guy, and he really loved you.”

 

“How would you know?” 

 

“He e-mailed me. He said he was sorry, but he met his soul mate. It was you.”

 

Tim watched Gibbs’ face frown in thought before he walked over to stand beside him. “Sometimes, McGee, a little lie, it’s good for the soul.”

 

He nodded understandingly, he knew there was no such email, but it made Katie feel better. Tim saw the thoughtful look come back onto Gibbs’ face. Wonder what he’s thinking about?

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was late and Tony didn’t want to go home at the end of the day so he stayed and got ahead of his paperwork. He didn’t have plans with Jeanne and the only other person in the office was Gibbs. Despite his declaration that he wasn’t Gibbs’ yo-yo, he still couldn’t bring himself to stay away from the other man. He furrowed his brow as he forcibly turned his thoughts away from Gibbs and back to the form he was currently filling out. 

 

Finally Gibbs turned off his desk lamp and walked past him, however unlike every night since Mexico, Gibbs stopped. He didn’t turn around and he didn’t face Tony. “You ever want to talk, I’ll listen. I-” an odd look crossed his face, “I have some questions, if you’re willing to talk.” 

 

Tony blinked at his boss for a second, he could swear the man could hear his heart thudding in his chest. “I-”

 

“Don’t, you don’t have to say anything. Just come over if you ever want to talk,” Gibbs cut him off and continued his way out of the squadroom. 

 

Tony looked around the empty bullpen, “well that was unexpected.”


	17. Smoked

“What the hell does he think he’s doing now?” Tony ranted as he paced the length of his living room. 

 

_ “Just come over if you ever want to talk.” _

 

“Yes, he seems so ambiguous in his intentions there,” Snape’s voice sneered from one corner. “It’s not like he’s asking to have sex with you. He is just saying that he’s ready to talk if you are.”

 

“Maybe he’s realized what an ass he’s been,” Lupin’s voice defended from the couch.

 

“Kate?” Tony didn’t even break stride as he gestured to the corner opposite Snape.

 

“Tony- Harry, whatever, just give him a chance,” Kate actually sounded like she knew something. That gave him pause.

 

“What? What do you know? Wait,” Tony’s eyes widened in understanding, “Shannon. You’ve been talking with Shannon, haven’t you, Kate?”

 

“That would be telling,” Kate smiled mischievously.

 

“Great! Now I’m being gossiped about by the dead. Instead of having the British Wizarding world discussing my love life, I have you guys,” Tony glared out at the translucent figures that dotted his apartment. Sirius, Tonks, and Lupin all sprawled on the couch in a weird sort of puppy pile. Snape was leaning against the wall beside his window, alternating glancing out onto the street and glaring at his mundane movie collection. Kate was sitting at the kitchen table with his mom and dad. He glanced to his mother. She had been the only one to reserve her own judgement on the situation. 

 

“Lils, he caught on,” James nudged his wife. 

 

She turned to look at him and smiled, “you know what I’m going to say.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you just want me to be happy-”

 

“Oh, hell no. You both are too stubborn to take your own happiness into account,” he stared at his mother in shock. “No, I figured after all those years of investigation you would have figured it out by now… You and Gibbs are  _ meant _ for each other.” 

 

“W-what? But- but what about settling down with a nice girl and giving you grandbabies?” Tony sputtered as he continued to stare at his mother.

 

“Harry, honey? What good are grandbabies if I can’t even dote on them? Besides no one can see or hear us except for you and your magical core,” Lily’s words were met with subtle glances from everyone else in the room, but Tony didn’t see it. He was too busy thinking over his mother’s words. “Besides, you have Teddy.”

 

_ She has a point. Even if I had kids, no kid would be able to see them. Then again would I really want my kid seeing the ghosts of his grandparents?  _

 

Tony was so deep in thought that he didn’t see Snape roll his eyes and glide through the couch, jostling the puppy pile that had melted into his couch. He did however hear the shouts of indignation from Tonks and Sirius. 

 

“Oi! I thought I was the clumsy one, though that did clear up after death.”

 

“Snivellus! Watch who you’re walking through! Merlin that feels so weird.”

 

Snape ignored them and stared at Tony till the man’s attention was on his former potions master. Tony’s mouth went dry, he knew he wouldn’t like what the man had to say, but knew it would be important. 

 

“Play, you stupid boy. Play the song and think,” with that he nodded to each transparent person in the room and one by one they all disappeared until it was just Tony, Snape, and Lily. 

 

Lily smiled at Snape, who scowled and nodded before he disappeared. “Harry, love, play for me. Please.”

 

He smiled sadly, “okay, mom.” He sat down and rested his fingers, not playing any song in particular until his fingers found a familiar musical trill that began the song in his head.

 

_ Why do I do just as you say _

_ Why must I just give you your way _

_ Why do I sigh _

_ Why don't I try to forget _

 

“Just like Gibbs forgot you, dear?” Tony kept on with the song, despite his mother’s words.

 

_ It must have been that something lovers call fate _

_ Kept me saying "I had to wait" _

_ I saw them all _

_ Just couldn't fall 'til we met _

 

“Oh and you fell dear, you fell hard baby,” whether it was the song or his mother’s words, Tony couldn’t tell, but he felt the pin prick of tears beginning to from at his eyes.

 

_ It had to be you _

_ It had to be you _

_ I wandered around _

_ And finally found _

_ The somebody who _

_ Could make me be true _

 

“Not just true to him, love, true to yourself.”

 

_ And could make me be blue _

_ And even be glad _

_ Just to be sad _

_ Thinking of you _

 

“And you were, you were happy. Before Mexico at least, but Harry you know it wasn’t his fault for losing his memory, you’ve got to let that go.”

 

_ Some others I've seen _

 

“Like Jeanne,” in those two muttered words, he knew exactly how much his mother disapproved of the whole situation with Jeanne. 

 

_ Might never been mean _

_ Might never be cross _

_ Or try to be boss _

_ But they wouldn't do _

 

“You know what you want out of this, what you need out of him. Maybe he needs it too, maybe he needs you to help him see it?” Tears fell freely down his face at the hope his mother brought to life within him. 

 

_ For nobody else _

_ Gave me a thrill _

_ With all your faults _

_ I love you still _

_ It had to be you _

_ Wonderful you _

_ It had to be you _

 

Tony’s voice caught as he sang that verse, he knew his mother heard it, but he couldn’t stop the tears, especially not now. He sobbed out a repeat of the verse. 

 

_ For nobody else _

_ Gave me a thrill _

_ With all your faults _

_ I love you still _

_ It had to be you _

_ Wonderful you _

_ It had to be you _

 

“With all your faults, I love you still. I know you’re scared, but that’s a part of love. The kind of love you and Gibbs have is like an inferno. Passionate and-”

 

“With a high probability of getting burned,” tears still flowed from Tony’s eyes as his hands rested in his lap.

 

“Yes, with this kind of love there is that risk, but the probable rewards far outweigh those risks.”

 

Tony turned to face his mother, “what would you know?!” He didn’t know where the anger had come from, but from the look his mother gave him, she was expecting it. 

 

“Because I had that. I had that and I threw it away. All over one little word. Just like you’re about to throw it all away just because he lost his memory-”

 

“He didn’t just lose his memory! He  _ left _ ! He abandoned his family, Abby, McGee-”

 

“You.”

 

“Yes, he abandoned me with a ‘you’ll do.’ Nothing about how I’ve had his six for years. Then he hands me a letter for Nathair. Nathair doesn’t exist!”

 

“Yes, he does. Harry, love. Nathair is the closest to the real you that anyone has  _ ever _ seen any piece of,” Lily stared down her son as her words hit him like a physical blow. “That’s what has you so scared. You let Gibbs in, you let him see more and more of the real you. Then he left and you tried your best you did everything you could, except for call the damn man, to get him to come back. Do you know what Nathair means?”

 

“Snake,” the whispered word was barely heard as it passed through the tightness in Tony’s throat.

 

Finally the smile reappeared on his mother’s face, “and what, praytell my son, is your animagus form that you discovered after Hogwarts?”

 

Tony winced, “a snake.”

 

“And who gave you the name Nathair in the first place?”

 

Tony’s face turned away from his mother and he bit his lip instead of answering.

 

“That’s right, Gibbs named you. He named you. He named you his with that. Names are important dear. I’m sorry that you never truly felt connected to yours. You were never Harry Potter the way you are Tony DiNozzo or, more importantly, Nathair. Think on it a while, but if you wait too long, we’ll be back to yell at you. I  _ do _ want you to be happy, my darling son. I want you to be happier than I was. While I was happy and loved your father, I want you to be happier.”

 

***

Tony plastered a smile on his face as he strode through the squadroom that morning. The tiredness in his eyes hidden by the sunglasses on his face. He held McGee’s book in his hands, knowing that it would still be the subject of discussion for at least another hot minute. He had decided that he would read it and laugh at all the inaccuracies of his personality and make a few notes based on McGee’s perspective. 

 

He laughed at a particular passage as he passed Ziva’s desk, “Finish reading McGee’s book yet?”

 

Just one glance at Ziva told him that today’s CD exchange might require him to cast a subtle cushioning charm on the CD before it reamed McGee so hard it knocked out the poor Probie. “Halfway.” came her collected response. “You?”

 

“I’m on… Chapter seven, page 103. ‘Maybe someday Lisa would find the courage to tell Agent Tommy about her dream, the two of them together, their bodies covered in sweat as they made love on the crystal white sands of her homeland.’” He had already made plans to cast the spell on today’s CD, why not add fuel to Ziva’s fire and have a little fun while he was at it?

 

“I’m going to kill him,” Ziva glared at McGee’s currently empty desk. 

 

“Kill who?” Gibbs came walking around the divider and walked past him. Tony worked to not react to the other man’s presence. It was as if after talking with his mother and playing that damn song for her, he was supercharged to Gibbs’ presence.  _ It’s as if some force is pulling me towards Gibbs.  _

 

The thought suddenly pinged an idea in Tony’s head.  _ Was _ there some force pulling him towards Gibbs?  _ Is it love? Is it something else? I’ll ask Ducky about it, see if someone is trying to fuck with me… damnit, if I go to Ducky about this, then I’d have to tell him I’m Harry Fucking Potter. _

 

“McGee! Have you read this book?” Ziva’s complaint pulled Tony out of his head.

 

“Apparently McGee thinks Ziva’s in love with me,” he watched Gibbs’ reaction carefully and saw the stiffening of the man’s entire body in rejection of the very idea. 

 

He could practically feel the growl from where he stood at Ziva’s desk, “there’s a reason they call it fiction, DiNozzo.” 

 

Just then the McProbie walked up, “Boss, just got a call from dispatch. Construction crew found a body.”

 

“Where?” Tony watched Gibbs’ eyes as his boss turned to face McGee. The hope that his mother had birthed within him flared at the sight of the frustration in Gibbs’ eyes and knew it had nothing to do with the case, yet.

 

“Chesty Puller High School in Quantico.”

 

“Student?” Tony took the opportunity to place the cover into his spot in the book and set it on his desk as he grabbed his gear.

 

“Uh… not sure.” McGee glanced down at his note as Gibbs walked back around his desk and handed the keys to the truck to Tony’s open and waiting hand. Their fingers brushed at the quick exchange and Tony was sure he felt something, not quite an electric shock, but a pull. 

 

“Take the truck, I’ll meet you there,” Gibbs kept walking as if he hadn’t felt the pull, the hope within Tony wished that Gibbs had felt the pull and was just that good at hiding things. 

 

Tony was so distracted by the warring feelings within him that he nearly missed Ziva’s ninja throw of today’s CD. He cast the cushioning charm in time to not leave a bruise on McGee’s forehead, but he knew McGee would still be feeling it in a few minutes. He tried to keep ahold of the keys to the truck, but Ziva took advantage of Tony’s many distractions and grabbed them out of his hand. 

 

“I’m driving,” her tone held an ominous feel to it.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs let his team loose to do their jobs, he had never been one to hover or micromanage his team, despite the image that DiNozzo had inadvertently put into his head. He had made it a point not to read Tim’s book, he had had a feeling something like this might happen and he hadn't wanted the mental images to go along with it. 

 

_ “Apparently McGee thinks Ziva’s in love with me.” _ He hadn’t been looking at DiNozzo at the time, and in hindsight it was probably a good thing otherwise the man would have seen the anger that flared in his eyes at the thought of the two of them together. It had been bad enough when they had gone undercover as that assassin couple.  _ God that had been a nightmare, the only thing that got me through it was the dreams with Nathair. _

 

That thought led to a whole new line of questioning,  _ What does Nathair have to do with DiNozzo? Why do I hate the idea of DiNozzo and Ziva getting together? _ He had to suppress a shudder at the question. A sense of  _ wrong _ had filled him so immediately and completely in the office, that he hadn’t questioned it at the time. 

 

Gibbs pulled his mind back to the case as he questioned the foreman assigned to the project, “We’ve pulled rats, cats, and birds out of chimneys before, Agent Gibbs. Hell, one time even a St. Bernard, but this is my first mummy. Reminds me of that urban legend.”

 

“Which one’s that?” honest to God, the question left his mouth before he could think about it. He genuinely missed Ducky’s rambling stories. He made it a point not to interrupt Ducky if he ever started them again with him...at least for a while. 

 

“Guy dresses up like Santa, you know, for Christmas Eve to surprise his girlfriend, but he never shows. She’s convinced that the bastard dumped her, badmouths him all over town,” The foreman started the story.

 

Ducky finished the story as if the two had planned it, “until they find the poor soul’s body months later still clutching the little box with her shiney new engagement ring. And the moral of course is…” 

 

Ducky and Palmer walked down the stairs and carefully moved about their crime scene, “‘It’s never a good idea to get married.’” 

 

Gibbs spoke up with words that were expected of him. He caught DiNozzo glancing at him with a critical eye, but the man looked away before Gibbs could meet his eye. 

 

“No…’It’s best not to judge someone until all the facts are in.’” Ducky gave him a pointed look and Gibbs chose to ignore it. 

 

Instead Gibbs smiled cockily and continued to portray his facade, “I like mine better.” It managed to get a chuckle out of the foreman. “Any of your crew touch or move Kriss Kringle?” 

 

“No,” foreman immediately shook his head, “most of ‘em were halfway to Manassas before the dust even settled.” 

 

Gibbs looked to Tony who had squat beside the body, “There’s no ID on him. Judging by what’s left of the mullet, I think it’s safe to say he wasn’t military.” DiNozzo looked up at him and he had a momentary flash of Nathair looking up at him in a nowhere near similar situation. 

 

“Ya think, DiNozzo?” Gibbs fought hard to keep his body under control before he turned back to Ducky. “Hey, need a TOD, Doctor.” The title felt like ash in his mouth. He missed his friend. 

 

He missed his friend so much that it stung when Ducky’s cold reprimand came, “considering we’ve been  _ working _ together for over  _ ten _ years, I am well aware of that, Agent Gibbs.”

 

“DiNozzo, when he gets one, run it through Missing Persons over the same time period,” he started jogging up the stairs.

 

“Where’re you going, boss?” the concern in DiNozzo’s voice almost made him hesitate on the next step, almost.

 

“To the roof, to figure out how he ended up there in the first place.” Then he saw McGee with an ice pack to the neck. “What happened to you?”

 

“Uh, creative differences with my coworkers, boss.” 

 

“A lot of that going around these days.” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tim had felt like crawling into a hole and dying of embarrassment ever since the team had found out about his book. He almost wished he had never written the damn thing. He wished they would just let it go, but they didn’t seem content to do so until he admitted that the characters were based off of the team, which they  _ so _ weren’t. He could almost hear Luna singing in his head, “I warned you that Ziva wouldn’t be happy.” 

 

It was funny, whenever he and Luna had talked about the characters of his book, she had only talked about Ziva being unhappy about the comparison. None of the rest of the team was ever mentioned, but it seemed as if Tony were just as upset about his book as Ziva was.  _ Afterall, Tony had given Ziva the keys to the truck, hadn’t he? _

 

“Don’t you think it’s about time you and Gibbs made up, Ducky?” Ziva’s voice had him flinching and moving as far away from her as he could. 

 

“Made up?” Ducky feigned innocence. “I wasn’t aware we were fighting, Ziva.” 

 

“Oh come on. Ever since he retired…”

 

Ducky interrupted Tony with a hard glance and hard words, “Gibbs didn’t retire, he quit.”

 

“Okay, so he quit, but he’s back now,” Tony tried to continue lightly.

 

Ducky then stood up from the body and stood toe to toe with Tony, “Gibbs quit and abandoned us, for months. I would have thought  _ you _ of all people would be angrier than I am about his abandonment.” Their eyes met and Tim started to get concerned at how fast Tony’s face was turning pale. 

 

“You need to cut the man some slacks, Ducky.” Ziva’s voice cut across the silent conversation that had apparently been happening between ME and SFA. Tony remained silent and for once didn’t correct Ziva’s misuse of slang which caused Ziva to finally looked over at Tony. “Tony? Are you alright?”

 

“Fine,” Tony croaked out, “I’m going to get some fresh air.”

 

Just like that Tony ran upstairs so fast he practically disappeared and Ducky was kneeling over the body once more, and listing observations of the body as if the whole event hadn’t transpired. “Judging by the decay and the condition of his skin, I’d tentatively place the time of death at two to four months ago. Mr. Palmer, will you be so kind as to inform Agent DiNozzo?”

 

Palmer nodded quickly and ran up the stairs after Tony, shortly thereafter they heard Tony’s strong voice ring out, “Time of death was two to four months ago, boss!” 

 

“Would you be ever so kind as to bag and tag these ashes, McGee?” Ziva said with so much fake sweetness, his teeth ached in sympathy. “Wouldn’t want Lisa’s deceptively smooth hands to be calloused from the ashes. We’ll pick you up after we coordinate with the MPs.” 

 

Tim hung his head till he heard Palmer coming back down the stairs, “Palmer! I need a favor.”

 

Palmer stopped halfway on the stairs, his eyes hard, “you want to ride back with us.”

 

“How’d you know?”

 

The hard look turned annoyed, “I read your book. For your information, I’ve never had sexual relations with a corpse.”

 

“That character was not based on you.”   
  


“His name was Pimmy Jalmer, McGee.”

 

Tim had winced at that, Luna had laughed and pat his back as if in sympathy at the time. He wondered for a moment if Luna could see the future, but ultimately shook the thought from his head. “He’s french polynesian?”

 

Palmer’s eyes narrowed at Tim, “Doctor, I came down to tell you that Tony and Ziva were leaving and that I was about to get the gurney, the former of which you already know.” 

 

“It was only a dream,” Tim shouted after Palmer’s retreating back. “Come on. Haven’t you ever heard of symbolism?”

 

“The life of an artist is never easy, McGee.” Ducky’s voice had turned comforting for the first time since the ME’s arrival at the scene. “They’ll get over it, eventually.”

 

“Thanks, Ducky.”

 

“By the way, do you know if Tony has finished it yet?” 

 

“Not yet.” Tim winced and it wasn’t just because of his neck.

 

“Well, him I’d watch out for.” Ducky nodded seriously to help convey his point and Tim took the warning seriously.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_ Ducky knows. ‘I know your secret, Anthony DiNozzo.’ Fuck. To which secret is he referring. I’ve only talked with him personally about Jeanne, without mentioning Jeanne… and the Battle of Hogwarts. “Rather like an old classmate of mine. She was quite the nimble little feline,” if it hadn’t been for the wink, I wouldn’t have connected the dots. Shit, it could be any one of my secrets. It could be about Jeanne and his ‘secret op’ for Jenny. It could be about me being Harry Potter. Hell, it had already been confirmed that Ducky knew about my being in love with Gibbs.  _

 

Tony hung his head in his hands as he sat on the back of the evidence truck. He knew it hadn’t been very Gryffindor of him to run from the room. But with ghosts popping in and out of his purview more and more recently, who could blame him. He would really hate it if…

 

“How very Gryffindor of you to run from an old ME,” Snape sneered at him.  _ And cue the obligatory appearance of Snape at my low points.  _

 

“An old ME that used to date  _ McGonagall _ ,” Tony gave the ghost a pointed look. Said ghost got a pinched look on his face and nodded his agreement of ‘running’ from an ME who used to date the current Headmistress of Hogwarts.

 

“Who are you talking to, Tony?” Jimmy asked as he walked up.

 

Tony waved a hand as if to wave away the question, even as he answered it, “Just an old teacher who made my life miserable while trying to protect me out of his love for my mother.”

 

Snape glared at Tony, Tony shot his old Potions master a gleeful smirk at finally being able to get back at the man. “You know, I could always annoy you at work, boy.”

 

Tony shook his head and turned to Jimmy, “Estimated TOD?”

 

“Dr. Mallard has it around two to four months ago.”

 

Tony tilted his head up a bit and used magic to amplify his voice a bit, “Time of death was two to four months ago, boss!”

 

Palmer left him once more and Tony rested his elbows on his knees, “so which secret does Ducky know. He was talking about Gibbs’ retirement and I know he knows how I feel about Gibbs. Maybe it was that bit, but the only one in the room who didn’t know that secret was Tim. Maybe he does know about my past. It’s not so much of a stretch-”

 

“Who are you talking to?” Ziva’s voice made him turn sharply.  _ Damnit, that’s twice that people have snuck up on me in as many minutes. I’m slacking, I need to step it up. _

 

“Yes, you do need to step it up, mister undercover agent dating an arms dealer’s daughter,” Snape’s voice drawled.

 

_ I thought coming over to this side hurt you guys? _ Tony angrily thought to Snape as he redirected Ziva, “No one, just talking to myself.”

 

“It does pain us, but by using you and the stone as a conduit, it is easier,” Snape lazily drawled just before Ziva asked her question.

 

“About your past?”

 

“Yeah, we done? Where’s Tim?”

 

Ziva mock glared at him at the mention of their Probie. “How are you not more angry that he wrote about us? Sure, you play the role of disgruntled coworker, but there’s no crunch to your words.”

 

“Bite,” Tony corrected and shrugged his shoulders, “Characters are hard. You basically have to come up with an entire person on your own, can’t really blame the probie for thinking so much of us to write about us. I’m just glad that the plot is fictional.”  _ Maybe I should give him some of the newspapers from when I was in England. Now there’s some fiction that he could write about. _

 

“I guess when you put it that way… No, I’m still upset. I mean what kind of investigator works beside you and Gibbs and doesn’t see what is glaringly obvious.” Ziva moved to get into the truck. From her actions, Tony deduced that they were leaving Tim to wait with the body.

 

“What? That I’m in love with him? What does that matter when he just leaves us at the drop of a hat?” Tony pulled out his phone once he was in the passenger seat and sent off a text to the MPs to begin coordinating with them to get Tim out of there sooner. 

 

“Is that why it looks like you’re holding yourself at a distance from him?”

 

_ Great, now ZIva’s joining the choir of ghosts telling me to get with my boss. _

 

“She’s a smart girl. She probably saw it in Gibbs when she invited the team over for dinner when she first started,” Snape drawled.

 

_ Oh, nearly forgot you were there, Snape. _ He could practically feel the glower that Snape was sending his way. 

 

Tony thumped his head on the back of his seat, “I’m not- I guess I have been, huh. He told me that if I was ready to talk, then to come on over. Think I should?”

 

“Oh, you won’t listen to your own mother, but the Mossad Agent sent to spy on you all you’ll hear out,” Snape taunted.

 

_ It’s because of my mother that I’m even contemplating going over to Gibbs’.  _

 

“Tony, I know you weren’t at that dinner and that’s my fault, so you didn’t see and hear Gibbs when he talked about you. He loves you, Tony. I don’t know if he remembers that or not, but that’s not the kind of love that just goes away,” Ziva looked wistfully out at the road. 

 

“She’s right, and he still loves you. Even if that love is directed to a different name.” 

 

Snape’s words hit him like a punch to the gut. Gibbs had been hurting as much as he had, but instead of trying to help each other, they hurt each other. Would it be like that if they got together? Tony felt his worries and fears surrounding Gibbs surface as he quietly reflected the rest of the way back to the Navy Yard. He didn’t feel like he would survive if that were the case. 

 

_ Am I just destined to be the world’s punching bag? _

 

The thought left a sour taste in his mouth, so he pulled out Tim’s book in an attempt to run away from reality for a while. It was actually a good book and was pretty engaging, it reminded him of many of their cases kind of rolled into one. He read the book as he got out of the truck and headed back up to his desk. 

 

Ziva scrolled through the missing person’s reports and Tony still read, “None of the local missing person reports match our John Doe’s description, Tony.”

 

He barely heard her as he continued to read. He really didn’t want to think about the real world yet. 

 

“And there’s no record of anyone going missing on base, civilian or military, during that period. Are you even listening to me?”

 

“I’m getting close to the end, Ziva.” He chuckled a little and decided to tease her a little about Lisa being in love with Tommy. “You know, McGee is really starting to nail your essence here. ‘Stakeouts… long, endless hours fueled by cheap food and even cheaper coffee. But tonight, Mossad Officer Lisa didn’t seem to mind.’”

 

He felt Ziva standing behind him, but continued on anyway, feeling Gibbs nearing them and wanting to test something, so he continued. “Because she was getting to spend it with Agent Tom-’ You’re standing behind me again, aren’t you?”

 

Her lips brushed his earlobe and a shudder went through him at the sense of  _ wrong _ that filled him, “lucky guess.” She jerked her knee against his chair, pushing his desk into his gut causing him to grunt. “You know, I think McGee’s right.” 

 

He leaned as far away from her as he could in his trapped state, “He was, was he?”

 

“It takes almost all of my willpower to resist the urges I have when I’m around you, Tony,” her hand rested on the desk beside his own hand. “Maybe, it’s about time I just give in, yes?”

 

He subtly moved his hand away from hers even as he acted like he was going along with her flirtatious manner, “and by ‘give in’ you mean…?”

 

“Letting loose. Doing what comes naturally to me.”

 

“Ooh, I like her,” Snape guffawed from his place on the railing of the stairs behind him.

 

“Yeah, I was picking up on that vibe the first time we went undercover together,” Tony grinned as if he were going along with it, pointedly ignoring his Potions teacher.

 

“You were? In fact I almost did it the first night in the hotel room,” Tony nearly winced at Ziva’s reminder of their first night undercover as the assassin couple. The only way he had been able to give a convincing performance was because he had been thinking of Gibbs at the time. In fact she had kneed him because she had momentarily reminded him of Gibbs and the little man downstairs had forgotten that it wasn’t Gibbs on top of him at the time. “But my father wouldn’t approve.”

 

“Because I’m not Jewish?” Tony snarked at her, trying to get her to change the subject.

 

“Because he gets very angry when I kill a coworker,” she jerked her head towards his ear and for a moment he had a flash of fear that she would bite his ear.  _ Gibbs where the hell are you? _

 

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, “you two done playing grabass?” 

 

Tony paid special attention to the growl he heard in Gibbs’ voice. “So you’ve confirmed that the jealousy from this morning was not imagined. Congratulations, except now you may have placed doubt in his mind that you feel the same for him.” 

 

“Oh, he started it.” Tony’s jaw clenched at Snape’s words.  _ Fuck, why didn’t I think of that? _

 

“I’m ending it,” Gibbs went straight for Tony’s desk and grabbed his copy of Deep Six off his desk. “Next person who mentions this book will be deep-sixed by me.” 

 

A part of Tony was relieved at Gibbs’ actions and words. He felt a sense of relief that he no longer had to even act upset about Tim’s book. If anyone asked, he could just play the Gibbs card. “I can completely live with that, boss.” 

 

“Exactly my point, DiNozzo. You ID our victim yet?”

 

“We’re running him against missing person cases reported over the last six months, Gibbs.” Ziva promptly reported. “No hits yet.”

 

“Um, I’m afraid that’s my fault. It seems my initial time of death wasn’t completely accurate,” Ducky came up to the bullpen and led them down to Autopsy.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tim paced the lab before facing his coworkers in the bullpen the next morning, “they hate me, Abby. Why didn’t I listen to Luna?”

 

“They don’t hate you, McGee,” Abby smiled at him teasingly. She was a bit irked at him herself, but not for his use of her likeness. 

 

“Ziva tried to kill me yesterday.”

 

Abby continued to galavant about her lab, “well, you did base all the characters in your book on us and didn’t ask our permission.”

 

“Deep Six is a work of pure fiction,” Abby was getting tired of hearing that excuse.

 

She stood in front of Tim and smiled sweetly at him, “you described everything in my bedroom.”

 

“Not everything. You still have those-” 

 

Her machines cut Timmy off, “fantasize about me and Luna later, Hemingway. I got a match on two of Old Smokey’s fingerprints.” She typed out the command to pull up the file and got rejected, “Whoa!”

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“The match file is restricted. I can’t access it.”

 

“That’s not possible. NCIS has top-level clearance.” 

 

Abby rolled her eyes as she typed furiously at her keyboard, “Duh, McGee. I work here, too.”

 

“Can you tell who’s blocking it?”

 

“I could … if they weren’t in the process of deleting the file from the server.” 

 

“What the hell is this,” McGee asked as he gently pushed Abby out of the way.

 

Gibbs sauntered in, “I was wondering that myself.”

 

“We got two matching fingerprints from the victim and AFIS just kicked us out. And now they’re deleting the file.” Abby knew that Gibbs would find out who was behind this obstruction of justice. Gibbs would fix everything, even if it was taking him a while to fix thing between him and Ducky… and him and Tony, despite her hints. 

 

“How?”

 

“Working on it boss,” McGee typed furiously to try to save the file, but Abby had a feeling that he would fail.

 

“It looks like some agency doesn’t want us to know who your mummy is, Gibbs.” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Inbound G-Five from Ibiza, Spain,” Jenny’s voice called out in his ear, “Tango-eight, I want every bag coming off that plane tagged with a GPS marker. Eagle Six, remain in over-watch. Tango-Eight is on his own, unless I clear you for backup.” 

 

_ Yeah, Jenny, we went over this before, you just want to wave your power around. Merlin I miss Gibbs calling the shots.  _

 

“Solid copy, Eagle Six remaining in over-watch position.”

 

The plane stopped moving and he jogged out to meet the plane like any other worker at the moment. He headed for the rear hatch that held the luggage for this particular private jet. “Hey there,” he decided to go southern. “How y’all doin’?” The plane steward kept a blank face as he handed the bags down to Tony. “Toss ‘em down, brother. Y’all ain’t too friendly, are ya?”

 

He scurried off with the bags and slipped the trackers onto the bags as quick as possible, keeping his magic on a tight leash as he tried not to short circuit not only his headset, but the trackers themselves. Things were barely coated in a clear protective layer to keep them from being noticed, but that meant he had to keep a tight lid on his magic so they didn’t short out.

 

“Tango-Eight, La Grenouille’s people are about to deplane.” He glanced up to get Jenny her pictures of the passengers when the woman smiled warmly and he smiled back flirtatiously, till he heard a throat clearing behind him.

 

He turned and saw a bald man that set off every sense of unease in Tony, “the smile was for me, dear boy. There’s more luggage.” 

 

“Yes, sir.” he knew the man recognised him as a wizard, a powerful wizard that was trying to keep his power in check. Just as he took note that this bald man was a wizard, a powerful one as well. He jogged after the rest of the luggage, his thoughts on his undercover role and the fact that her father had a powerful wizard in his employ. 

 

He kept an ear out for the other wizard, “Nice flight?”

 

“Very nice, Kort, very nice.”  _ Kort, huh.  _

 

“Martin, where’s he been keeping you?”

 

“The African market. Cape Town, mostly. Not bad.” 

 

Tony rushed for the rest of the bags to be put into the back of the limo and to tag them with GPS markers when he heard Jenny’s voice grate in his ear, “I need to see the passengers.”

 

He looked up and adjusted his glasses, trying to hold them steady for a second so they could get a picture from his video feed. He looked back up after placing the last marker and saw Kort watching him closely, “How long have you been here?”

 

“Well, long enough to put your luggage in the trunk.” 

 

Kort smiled at him graciously, “How long have you been working the line? I haven’t seen you before.”

 

“Oh, ‘bout five months, I’d say. You know, Part-time. Still trying to move in after the move up from the Na’ Awrlins (New Orleans),” as Tony finished talking, Kort took out his wallet and waved a hundred dollar bill around.

 

“Can you keep your eyes off of her next time?”  _ That money has a tracking spell on it. I know it, and you know I know it.  _

 

“Probably not,” he grinned innocently. 

 

Kort nodded, seemingly impressed, “an honest man.” Kort put the money in Tony’s pocket and patted him.

 

“Thank you, sir.” He shut the trunk and heard Jenny doing her confirmation thing. 

 

“Bravo Zulu, Tango-Eight.” Jenny sounded proud of him.  _ Too bad it’s not your pride I want. Speaking of…  _ Tony glanced down at his watch. 

 

“Two hours. Gibbs is gonna murder me,” He jogged off the tarmac and left the hundred in his coveralls for some other sap who would lead Kort away from Tony. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_ Five to six years, Duck? Shit. And now we’re being stonewalled. And where the hell does the Director have Tony running off to in the middle of a case?  _ Gibbs clicked through the pictures of different missing person’s posters.

 

“How long’s Tony been doing errands for the director?”

 

He heard Ziva’s clacking of the keys as she answered, “pretty much since you retired. She trusts him.”

 

“To do what?”

 

Ziva shot him a look saying that she hadn’t really considered that before, “you’d have to ask Tony that.”

 

“Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! I did it!” Abby came rushing up with Tim in tow.

 

“Uh, well, you mean ‘we.’” Tim corrected her.

 

“There is no ‘we’ in McGee.”  _ So Tim did it. _ “I traced the connection back to the system that deleted the fingerprint match.”

 

“It’s a government server in Arlington, Virginia,” McGee cut in for a second.

 

“Routed into AFIS directly at the source.” 

 

“Our mystery hacker is-”

 

Gibbs interrupted McGee and Abby’s explanation, “the FBI.”

 

“Uh, yeah. Sounds a little anticlimactic when you say it,” Abby trusted that he figured it out from their explanation.

 

“How did you know that?” Gibbs felt a bit of pride at McGee for questioning first.

 

He nodded to Fornell and Sacks, “I’m looking at ‘em.”

 

Fornell moved between Gibbs and his two computer techies, “you’ve got something that belongs to me, Gibbs.”

 

Gibbs gave Fornell a hard look before he led the two FBI agents down to Autopsy. They walked in just as Palmer was holding up a toe and Ducky was telling him what it was, “a human toe.”

 

“He was a cannibal, Ducky… and a serial killer,” Fornell got a hungry look in his eye, the type of hungry look that said he had found his man. “I’ve been hunting this bastard for 12 years, Gibbs.” 

 

“What’s his name?” Gibbs had a feeling that Fornell didn’t know. Fornell and Slacks shared a look. A smirk found it's way to his face, “you don’t know.”

 

“We know the prints you ran through AFIS matched two of the prints from his crime scenes,” Slacks pointlessly informed him. 

 

Fornell leaned closer to ‘Old Smokey’, “Fourteen kills, all women, drugged, strangled, left to rot near rural, interstate highways.”

 

“Every one of them missing the toes on their left foot. They were gnawed off.” Slacks gave Gibbs a pointed look and he knew that Slacks was thinking of DiNozzo. 

 

“How’d he die?” Fornell asked of Ducky, missing the glare that Gibbs sent Slacks.

 

“Well, we’re still working on that.”

 

“I can tell you when. 66 months ago.”

 

“Five and a half years,” Ducky sounded mildly impressed. “That’s a pretty accurate guess.”

 

“It wasn’t a guess. It was the last time he killed.” Fornell pulled away from the body and made to leave Autopsy, Gibbs quickly headed him off and walked with the FBI agent out of the room. “You want to know why I restricted access to his prints.”

 

“For starters.” 

 

“We didn’t want local LEOs trying to bring him down on their own.”

 

_ DiNozzo used to be a local LEO and he could have brought this guy down. _ Gibbs smiled ruefully, “that sounds like the FBI.”

 

“This guy was a ghost, Jethro. Fourteen murders, all we ever got from him was two partials and a single strand of hair. We never even got close.”

 

“I am more interested in what he was doing on my Marine base, Tobias.”

 

“As soon as I find out, you’ll be the first to know.”  _ You’re going to try to take my case. _ “We got a deal?” Gibbs looked at Tobias curiously. “I’ll have my ME swing by and pick up the body.”

 

“ _ After  _ I find out who he is and how he died.” 

 

“I’ve spent 12 years working on this case.” 

 

“Well, then waiting a few extra days shouldn’t be a problem.” He gave Fornell a hard look to try to convey his seriousness.  _ Fornell is too emotional over this case. _

 

“Is there anything else I can do for you while you’re grinding the knife in?”

 

“I’m gonna need a sample of that hair and copies of your files. A few bottles of bourbon would be a nice gesture.”  _ Bourbon would probably be a good idea for when Tony comes over...if he comes over.  _

 

“What do I get, besides a headache?” 

 

“Tobias, I am going to show you what your serial killer looks like.” He beckoned Tobias with a finger and headed for the elevator to go to Abby’s lab. They arrived and Abby started her explanation. 

 

“I’ve been rehydrating Smokey the Bear’s head since yesterday. It makes it easier for identification.”

 

McGee stood beside Abby, “and I’ve uploaded every local missing person’s sketch and photo into the comparison fields since the killings stopped.”

 

“As soon as the rendering algorithm is complete, we should have a fairly accurate likeness of what Slim Jim looked like when he was still alive.”

 

“As long as the quadrant system and scales are within the program’s proscribed-”

 

“McGee, less talk, more of the computer chip doo-da.” Gibbs barked out.

 

“Making with the doo-da, boss.”

 

“Doo-da?” Fornell looked to Gibbs with an amused eyebrow raised.

 

“Yeah, it’s a technical term, Tobias. You wouldn’t understand.” Gibbs kept his face towards the screen and away from Abby, McGee, and Tobias as he grinned.

 

“Pretty cute for a serial-killing cannibal.” The smile on his face turned sour at Abby’s statement.

 

The pictures stopped flashing across the screen, “I’ve got am 86% match on a Charles Bright, reported missing from Dale City, five years seven months ago.”

 

“Our profiler was convinced he’d have at least one body buried near his home.”

 

“Why?” Abby sounded genuinely confused and Gibbs envied her her innocence for a moment. 

 

“Something for him to gloat over, Ab. Relive the rush anytime he wanted to.”

 

“That’s good, Gibbs. We need an address.” 

 

McGee typed it in and began them humming, “do-do-do. Do-da”

 

Fornell and Abby joined in, “Do-da. Do-da.” In that moment Gibbs missed Tony fiercely and wished the other man would come over so they could talk.  _ I have so many questions about magic, Tony, and Nathair.  _

 

“That address still good?”

 

McGee typed a few more things in the computer, “uh, wife still lives there. Karen Bright, and she’s the one who reported him missing.”

 

“There you go, Fornell.”

 

“You’re turning the case over?” Tobias asked suspiciously. 

 

“No. I just want you to get my search warrant for me.”

 

Gibbs walked past and went to get a coffee while he waited for Fornell to do his dirty work for him. He came up to the Bullpen a little while later to see Slacks at DiNozzo’s desk and DiNozzo looking confused. He first went to DiNozzo’s desk and roughly pulled Slacks to stand before him. “Not your desk, you want to sit, there’s two desks at the end.” Gibbs nodded to the end of the bullpen with a glare and snatched the phone out of Slack’s hand. 

 

Gibbs saw a smile flicker on DiNozzo’s face at Gibbs’ actions and a warmth spread across his chest. He eyed DiNozzo for a half-second before smacking the back of the man’s head and felt the warmth spread as the tenseness in his SFA’s shoulders left. Gibbs smiled cockily at DiNozzo, “snooze you lose, DiNozzo. Grab your gear.”

 

“I already have my gear.” Tony said as he still looked bewildered. 

 

“Fill you in on the way. Let’s go.” Ziva walked after them. 

 

Gibbs didn’t have to look back to know that Tony was following, it felt as if a piece fell into place as Tony stood at Gibbs’ back. It was like DiNozzo belonged there, watching Gibbs’ six. Gibbs felt a piece of himself relax knowing that he was safe with Tony at his back. 

 

***

Tony walked behind Gibbs and Fornell as they walked up to the front door of the house. “What do we tell her?” 

 

Gibbs sighed before answering Fornell, “the truth, we found her husband.”

 

“And the whole serial-killing cannibalism thing?” 

 

“Not until we have to.” 

 

A young girl opened the door and Gibbs felt Tony tense behind him. “Hi, your mom home?”

 

“Who is it Amy?” at the sound of a woman’s voice, Gibbs felt Tony move closer to Gibbs. An uneasy feeling filled his gut and Gibbs leaned back a little into the comforting presence of his SFA. 

 

“It’s the police, mom.” 

 

“Mrs. Bright. I’m-” Fornell had been too preoccupied to tonice Gibbs and Tony’s actions and he completely cut himself off as the wife came into view. 

 

Gibbs cleared his throat and spoke, “He’s FBI Agent Fornell, we’re NCIS Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo.” Gibbs nodded to indicate each person as he introduced them. 

 

“You, you found him, didn’t you?” Gibbs felt Tony go so tense, he could have sworn the man would snap. “You found my husband Charlie?” 

 

“His body was discovered yesterday in Quantico.” 

 

“It was an accident, wasn’t it? He was a building inspector.” Though she sounded almost like any other grieving widow, something niggled at Gibbs about her. 

 

“The cause of death is still undetermined.”

 

“He would have never abandoned us. Everyone else thought it, but I always knew it couldn’t be true.” A boy that Gibbs assumed to be the son came up and she hugged her son, “they found daddy. They finally found him.” 

 

Gibbs walked the property with Fornell while DiNozzo joined the rest of the team in searching the grounds. “I’m sorry about that, Jethro. She could have been a twin to some of his victims.”

 

“The loving husband, murdering and eating women who look like his wife.” While Gibbs found it believable, something still bothered him about the wife. “It’ll probably be McGee’s next bestseller.”

 

“It amazes me how the truly sick ones are always the best liked, pillars of the community.” 

 

“They’re successful because they blend in, Tobias. They go to church, they coach Little League baseball.”   
  


“I was on the team that nailed Bundy, Gibbs. And I’m familiar with sick, charming bastards.”

 

Gibbs let out a smirk, “That’s probably why we get along so well.”

 

“Oh, I found something, boss!”  _ Should have placed a bet that DiNozzo would find something first.  _ “Found some bone fragments.” The team came rushing over and they saw a partially uncovered skull that DiNozzo was carefully dusting off. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Our serial killer spent the last five years getting smoked and tenderized in the Puller High School chimney,” Tony began his summary. “Only to fall out during the installation the of the new furnace.”

 

“I want to know how he ended up that way, DiNozzo.”  _ You and me both, boss. My money’s on the wife. _

 

“Boss, he was a building inspector for the DOD. When he disappeared in April 2001, he was checking structures at Quantico and Little Creek. Puller High School was on his list.”

 

“It could have been an accident.” Ziva began, “he could have fallen to his death while inspecting the school.”

 

“How? Think about it. He couldn’t just walk on the military base. If he drove, they would have found his car.” Gibbs poked holes in Ziva’s theory.

 

“A 2000 Honda Accord disappeared with him,” McGee added helpfully.

 

Ziva took the remote from Tony’s hand, “fourteen victims, spread out from 1993 until his death.”

 

“All of them looking pretty much like his wife.” 

 

“Number 15 found in his own backyard by yours truly,” Tony grinned to himself for a moment, “with the FBI digging for more.”

 

“Why are we letting the FBI dig for more?” McGee asked curiously.

 

“They’re doing our manual labor, Probie,” Tony grinned over at McGee. “In fact, I’m about to head over there to check on their progress with Ducky, want to come?” 

 

“Not really, no,” McGee answered.

 

“Too bad, let’s go,” Tony bounced over to his desk and grabbed his gear as they all followed after him. Tony felt better as he stood behind Gibbs in the elevator and reveled in the feeling for as long as he could.  _ Once the case is over, I’m going over to Gibbs’. There really is no substitute for being around him.  _

 

Tony took pictures of the roots growing through the skeleton of the latest victim found, “well, this is the last one, Ducky. Unless they find more.” _ Please don’t find more. _ Tony’s stomach rolled at the thought of Gibbs inside the house with the wife without him. He didn’t know what it was that bothered him about the wife, but he tried to comfort himself with the fact that Fornell was inside the house with Gibbs. 

 

“Yeah, well, this one is also female, judging by the width of the pelvic bones. Yeah, with the almost complete lack of tissue, I think I’ll refrain before I offer a tentative time of death.”

 

“Especially after last time,” Ziva smiled as she teased Ducky.

 

“Yes, I do deeply apologize for that.”   
  


“No problems, Ducky. We all make mistakes, yes?” 

 

“Did I ever tell you about the time I shoved a French police officer off a cliff?”

 

Tony heard the longing in Ducky’s voice and had a feeling that Ducky was starting to see that he had been an ass to Gibbs. “There was a lake below.”

 

“Yeah, the man was alright, but they still issued a warrant for my arrest. Gibbs and I managed to keep two steps ahead of them. Eventually we escaped across the English Channel in a sailboat,” Ducky smiled fondly at the memory. 

 

“You and Agent Gibbs were fugitives?” Palmer sounded as eager as ever when Ducky shared his stories. 

 

“Yes, for a short while. Until a young upcoming NCIS agent had the charges dropped.”

 

Tony chuckled as he remembered that Jenny had told him her side of the story once during Gibbs’ hiatus, “Jenny.” Ducky, Palmer, Ziva, and McGee looked up at him curiously. “I mean, Director Shepard.”

 

“Yeah, she was the one who commandeered the boat,” Ducky smiled at them all. 

 

“Director Shepard stole a boat?” 

 

“She wasn’t the director of NCIS at the time, McGee.” Ducky smiled at them, but Tony saw the sadness in the old wizard’s eye. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs drank the last of his coffee that night as he sat in the Bullpen. He had just brushed it off his desk and into the trash when a new cup appeared. He looked up to see Ducky standing there.  _ I’m really not in the mood for another lecture, Duck _ . 

 

“Thought you might be needing a refill.”

 

Gibbs had the grace to smile, “thanks.”

 

“Today certainly brought back a lot of memories.”

 

Gibbs nodded his agreement, “yeah.” 

 

“It also made me realize that since your return I’ve been acting a little like a-”

 

“An ass?” Gibbs called the old doctor out on his actions of late. 

 

“Well, something like that.”

 

“I didn’t notice,” Gibbs smiled a teasing smile at his old friend. 

 

“Yeah, you and I have been through a lot over the years. Look, I-I … I hate to use marriage as an analogy…”

 

“Then don’t. Just tell me what I did to piss you off.”

 

“The night you retired, you asked me to drive you home. You didn’t say a single word the entire trip. No explanation, not even a good-bye,” Ducky gave him a look that told him it wasn’t just his lack of ‘good-bye’.

 

“I was kind of still recovering from the coma, Doctor.” 

 

“Yet, in all our years of friendship, you failed to mention you had a family. Then there’s the fact of how you left poor Anthony. I realize your memory was shoddy, but you had to know how the boy felt.”

 

Gibbs looked up at his friend in confusion, “What do you mean?”

 

An eyebrow was raised, “you left us, you left him. He practically worships the ground you walk on and you walked all over him.”

 

Gibbs felt a twang of guilt at Ducky’s words, “yeah, I know. I’ve offered for him to come over whenever he’s ready.”

 

That got a nod of approval, “Good. It’s a step in the right direction.”

 

Gibbs stood up from his desk, “you know how I feel about apologies, right?” 

 

“Yeah, they’re a sign of weakness.”

 

“Not between friends. I am sorry, Ducky. I plan to apologize to DiNozzo if he ever comes around.” 

 

Ducky smiled approvingly, “and I should have told you something months ago. Welcome home.” 

 

They shook hands and pulled each other into a hug, Gibbs felt his broken heart begin to mend at Ducky’s forgiveness. He had missed his friend. “Thanks.” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony sat in front of the building that held his  _ Girlfriend _ . “How do I do this. I feel like if I have sex with her, then I’ll lose any chance of being with Gibbs, but if I don’t…”

 

“You’ll fail your undercover mission,” Sirius spoke from the passenger seat. 

 

“Yeah. What am I going to do, use magic to make her think we had sex?” He asked sarcastically.

 

“Actually-”

 

“What, seriously?”

 

“Yes, and my middle name isn’t Lee,” Sirius smiled cheekily at him. 

 

Tony rolled his eyes, “while the idea has merit, you know I don’t like to go rooting around in other people’s brains.”

 

“Yeah, I know, pup. What other choice to you have though? It’s either her or Jet. You know a relationship with her won’t last. You’re just using her to distract you from Jet and while you know it’s not fair to her, you’re still doing it.”

 

“So why not just put another nail in my coffin?” Tony rubbed at his face and leaned his forehead on his steering wheel. He hardened his gaze and took a breath to try to find his resolve. Getting out of the car was as easy as finding her door. He hesitated before knocking on her door.  _ Am I really going to do this?  _

 

He heard music coming through her door and knocked even more gently, hoping that she was asleep and that his knocking wouldn’t wake her and he wouldn’t have to do this. His head touched at the door for a moment before he sighed, “hope you had a better day than I did, Miss Jeanne Benoit. I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately… and I’m really, really trying to figure out a way to not screw this up.”  _ My job, Gibbs, you, I really don’t want to screw this up, but I feel like this is all going to explode in my face.  _ He turned to leave and he nearly made it to the corner before he heard the door to her apartment open. A wince crossed his face before he buried it and turned to face her with a look of weariness. 

 

“Tony.”

 

“Hey,” he forced a smile on his face. “I thought you were sleeping.”

 

“I was,” she reached out for him and he felt guilt wash through him at the unbridled joy on her face at seeing him. He entered her apartment and she all but pinned him to a door frame. “So, how was your day?”

 

He didn’t want to meet her eyes, so he looked down at his feet, “well, you ever see  _ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre _ ?”

 

“Original or remake?”   
  


“Either.”

 

She shook her head and smiled, “neither.”

 

“It was a lot like that, but worse. How about you?” He finally met her eyes and used his magic to enter her mind. In reality she stood frozen till he gently brought her over to the bed, while maintaining eye contact. 

 

In her mind, they were still standing in the doorframe, “Kind of like a cross between,  _ Trains, Planes, and Automobiles _ and  _ The Muppets Take Manhattan. _ ” 

 

Tony maintained contact as he placed his reaction to her statement in her mind, “That is a heady, heady brew of strange cinematic references, and I don’t know what to make of it.” 

 

“I interned at the Children’s Ward today. I felt kind of like that, too.” 

 

“Beautiful and clever,” he kept eye contact with her as he continued to place images in her mind. 

 

“So why aren’t you kissing me?” 

 

He made his mental visage gently wrap his arms around her and pull her into his embrace. In her mind, their lips met in a tangle of lips, teeth, and tongue. In reality, Tony lay beside her in her bed and used his magic to remove her clothes. He then put the rest of the actions in her mind and set her to sleep. Before her eyes closed for the night he placed the memory of him leaving in the early morning in her mind. 

 

Before leaving he stood at her door, “I’m sorry Jeanne. Despite my best abilities to deny it, I belong to him. I always have.” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, Gibbs dreamt of Nathair. It had been so long since the dreamscape, that for a moment Gibbs was caught off guard. Till Nathair fell to his knees before him. 

 

“I’m sorry, Jet. I’m so sorry.” 

 

Joy swelled in Jet, “I’ve missed you, Nathair.” His hand lovingly ran through Nathair’s soft locks. “Where have you been?”

 

Nathair leaned his head against Jet’s leg, “hiding. I’ve been hiding from you, hell,” a light chuckle, “I’ve been hiding from myself. I tried to find a substitute that I could control, but there’s no replacing you, Jet.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I was scared, I’m still scared.”

 

“Scared of what, Nathair?”

 

“The truth, I’m scared of who you bring out in me. I haven’t been true to myself with anyone, ever. Jet, please, don’t- don’t leave me again. Please,” Jet felt his pant leg dampen and he knew that Nathair was crying.

 

“I can’t promise that I won’t die, but if it’s within my power, I’ll stay. If I leave, I’ll come back to you. Even the explosion didn’t keep me away from you, Nathair.”

 

“No, it didn’t. I love you Jet.” Nathair finally looked up and Jet stared into the emeralds that were his Nathair’s eyes. 

 

Jet jerked his head up in silent command and Nathair smoothly rose to his feet. He wrapped a hand around the back of Nathair’s neck and gently cradled the other man’s head, “I’ve only loved one other in my life.” 

 

He knew Nathair would catch what he didn’t say, he knew that Nathair would hear the words even though he never spoke them. Their lips met and Nathair melted into him. 

 

As if by his will, ropes appeared in Jet’s hands. He smiled against Nathair’s lips and gently sat Nathair down in a comfortable chair. Jet knelt before his Nathair and let his eyes drink in the sight that was his and his alone. Kiss plump lips, slightly tousled hair, lust blown eyes, Nathair’s body was a puddle of goo for him to manipulate. He ran his fingers along the muscled legs before him and wrapped the rope closed around one ankle. 

 

He kissed the ankle before he pulled the rope tight and wrapped it one rotation around Nathair’s leg. A contented hum of approval sounded above his head and he smiled before he began kissing up the leg that he tightly wrapped until the rope resembled a candy cane’s stripes. Jet stopped the rope at just below his knee and watched Nathair’s face for a moment. 

 

Jet kissed the knee before him and began to wrap the rope tightly back down until he reached the ankle once more. His eyes were drawn to the puffed out bits of skin between the rope and he smiled before he gently pressed his thumb on one such bit of skin. Nathair groaned and Jet watched with interest as the man’s cock jumped a second before Nathair reflexively squirmed in the chair. 

 

“Talk, Nathair.”

 

“Ungh, hurts so good, Jet.”

 

“Sink your teeth right through my bones, baby.” The words left his mouth and suddenly the song by John Mellencamp started playing. He laughed, he couldn’t help it. He looked back at Nathair and saw a look of pure devotion on his face and slowly unwrapped the roped leg. 

 

“Jet, please, need you.”

 

“As you wish,” he wrapped his arms around the body before him and lifted Nathair from the chair and practically threw the other man onto the bed. His body covered Nathair’s before the other man could react and their lips met in a rush of passion. Slick fingers found their way underneath the pliant body and pressed at the man’s entrance. 

 

“Yes, please, Jet,” Nathair’s breath hitched at the intrusion and Jet smiled against Nathair’s lips. Jet pulled his head away and looked down at Nathair again, as his fingers scissored in and out of his lover. 

 

He lowered himself back down and attached his lips to Nathair’s neck, finding that sensitive spot, just above the collar bone, “Mine.”

 

Nathair shuddered at his growl and he knew the other man was close. “Yours, all yours, always. I’m done fighting, need you. Please, need you inside.” 

 

A whimper was heard as his fingers left the man, only for the whimper to turn to a moan at the feel of Jet’s cock resting just barely pressed against Nathair’s entrance. “You ever going to hid from me again?”

 

“No, never again, please Jet.”

 

Jet’s thumb ran across the triangle tattoo on Nathair’s hip, “are you magical?”

 

“Yes, I’m a wizard.” Nathair whimpered with need, but held himself still. 

 

Slowly, Jet’s cock pushed into the pliant body beneath him. Their groans mingled as they became one. Once he was fully seated within his Nathair, he held himself still for a moment. 

 

_ “Jet, pleasse, fuck me, love me, bind me, usse me. I’m yourss. I’m ssorry I tried to hide away, _ ” at Nathair’s hissing, Jet’s hips jerked and his cock twitched inside. 

 

“I forgive you,” though he didn’t know the precise words that Nathair used, Jet knew that those were the words that he needed to say. “My Nathair.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony sat at his desk the next day, he was happy he was dreaming of Gibbs again. Though the guilt of what he did to Jeanne still resonated within him, he couldn’t find it in himself not to be happy about his own dream the night before. He found himself humming “Hurts so Good” by John Mellencamp and mumbling the words every so often.

 

“Are you on medication?” Ziva’s voice tore through his happy memories.

 

He smiled to himself, “Just had a good night last night.”  _ After I left Jeanne’s and went to bed.  _ He made sure to keep his eyes down on his own desk and not to Gibbs’.

 

“Doing what?”

 

“The usual.”  _ Does it count as my usual if it were dreams that had stopped because of my own idiocy and then came back? _

 

“The usual what?”  _ Ugh, let it go McNosey. _

 

“Night.”

 

She suddenly started laughing, “you had sex, didn’t you?”

 

He looked at her with feigned wide eyed innocent, “What?”

 

“It’s okay to admit it. I mean, we’re all adults here.”

 

“That’s a subject I’d be willing to debate, Officer David.” Fornell cut in as he leaned against the divider for a moment. He pushed himself off the divider and looked to Gibbs’ desk. “Where’s Gibbs?” 

 

“Well, he must have known you were coming, because he’s not here.”  _ He’s down with Ducky in Autopsy.  _

 

“It was really more of a courtesy call, DiNotso,” Tony’s eye twitched at the pronunciation of his name. “Letting him know about these orders from Justice. The ones where the FBI is taking over your case.” Fornell relaxed into Gibbs’ chair and set his feet on Gibbs’ desk. “You sure he’s not around?” 

 

Tony’s eye twitched in annoyance and sent a mild magical spark to hit Tobias in the foot. He jerked his feet off Gibbs’ desk and Tony had to hold back the proud smile he had about defending Gibbs’ territory.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs woke up feeling more refreshed than he had since finding out that Tony was magical. He had gone to see Ducky first thing after getting to work and found that Mr. Bright had been in fact murdered. He smiled to himself as he got up to the Bullpen to find DiNozzo humming a familiar song. He stared at his SFA for a moment until DiNozzo looked up and informed him that Fornell was waiting for him in Director Shepard’s office. 

 

“These are pretty clear-cut orders, Agent Fornell.” Jenny’s voice sounded cocky, as if she knew that Gibbs wouldn’t let Fornell take the case. “‘NCIS is hereby ordered to turn over full jurisdiction of the Bright case to the FBI by end of business today.’” She gave Fornell a look, “Who did you have to sleep with to get these?” 

 

“Director, please,” Tobias smiled cockily at her. “A serial killer falls down a chimney on a Marine base. Is that a logical way to decide jurisdiction?”

 

Jenny handed him the orders and he easily read them from his hand. He chuckled a little and rested them back on Jenny’s desk. “It’s been working for us since around 1882.”

 

“Sadly, Justice doesn’t see it that way. The FBI’s investigated 12 years in this investigation.”

 

Jenny smiled coyly at Tobias, “and my people made more progress in just three days. Now, I can see how that would be embarrassing.”

 

“I’ll get over it.” Fornell’s eyes flicked over to Gibbs. “No hard feelings, Jethro?”

 

“No,” Gibbs answered honestly. “Just need you to look at something before you leave.” 

 

“You got that mustache in a box, don’t you?” Tobias teased, Gibs let him have his moment before he took him down to Ducky and revealed that their Serial Killer had been murdered. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It baffled him. Utterly baffled him that people like this existed.  _ Why? Why kill these women and  _ eat _ their  _ toes _?  _ He lazily flicked through the crime scene photos from the serial killer who now lay in their autopsy because he was murdered. At least, that’s what all the evidence pointed towards, but as soon as he had seen the wife, something had gnawed at him about her. There was a darkness around her, she could have been a squib, but what little magic she had was dark, evil. 

 

“I’ve seen a lot of things since I became a cop, Ziva, but this...someone tortures and murders 19 women and then gets off on eating their toes?” Tony visibly shuddered. “And our job is to arrest the person who killed this guy.” 

 

“Makes perfect sense to me,” Ziva quipped in sarcastically from her desk. 

 

“Justified or not, still a crime, Ziva,” despite Tim defending the side of justice, Tony could hear the reluctance to do so that Tim held back. “In this country, you cannot take the law into your own hands.” 

 

That last bit had Tony grimacing a bit,  _ aren’t supposed to take the law into your own hands in England either, but that all goes out the window when there’s a fucking prophecy about you defeating the great and powerful Dark Lord. _ “Unless it’s your little sister wanted for murder… right, probie?” 

 

Tim grimaced at the reminder and Tony saw that Tim only saw the reprimand, not the message that there are circumstances that change things. “You know what I mean.”

 

“What if this was your sister, or her?” Tony clicked through the photos again. He knew how both he and Gibbs would respond if a member of their family had been murdered and mutilated like these women had been. 

 

“My point is that we cannot just investigate the crimes we want to.” 

 

“McGee’s right,” Gibbs strode into the bullpen, “does anybody have a problem with that?”

 

“No, boss, it’s just-” Tony cut himself off with a groan.

 

“Just what, DiNozzo?” Tony felt Gibbs’ eyes give him a once over. 

 

“Some days this job really sucks.”

 

“Yeah? Well, it’s about to get worse. Ziva, you and Tony are with Sacks on this one,” Gibbs pointed towards the two FBI agents that had just gotten off the elevator. 

 

Tony tried to hold back the grimace at working with Slacks, “doing what?”

 

“Coming up with a list of people who wanted Bright dead,” Gibbs gave Tony a look and he understood that to mean to work his usual angle. The wife. A part of Tony didn’t want to dig deeper into the woman that reeked of evil, but if his suspicion was correct, then the man in their autopsy wasn’t their true serial killer. Gibbs had just given him the go ahead to link the wife to the murders. 

 

“Besides everyone in this room?” Ziva questioned sarcastically.

 

Gibbs turned to McGee next, “go check on Abby, see if she needs any help.” Tony watched as Gibbs set his gaze on Fornell next, “running a little late today, are we, Tobias?” 

 

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”  _ Of course he is, he gets to show off. He loves showing off, especially to his friends.  _ Tony’s lips quirked in a small smirk to himself. 

 

“Oh, only slightly more than a lot. Come on,” Gibbs beckoned Fornell to follow him and Tony allowed himself a glance to look after his boss wistfully before he turned back to the computer.  _ Let’s see, the wife angle, wife is a teacher, maybe she taught at Puller? _

 

His phone rang a few minutes later, he didn’t get a chance to answer before he heard the bark of his boss, “DiNozzo?”

 

“Yeah, boss?”

 

“Concentrate on the high school. Someone there had to have a personal connection to Bright.” 

 

_ Already on it, boss. _ “On it.” Gibbs hung up without a goodbye per his norm and Tony dug a little more into the wife.  _ What if she worked at the high school under her maiden name? _  He made sure to pass along the info to Ziva and ignored Sacks. 

 

Suddenly Sacks was leaning over his shoulder, so he ramped up the incompetent factor and began pecking with two fingers, “Where the hell did you learn how to type?”

 

“Do you mind? Your breath’s taking the starch out of my collar.” He studiously didn’t look at Sacks. 

 

“What do we got?” Fornell and Gibbs said in tandem. 

 

“Um, the teaching staff present from five years ago all claim not to have known Bright,” Ziva had been working the teacher and staff angle while Tony worked the wife angle.

 

“Well, if they murdered the guy and stuffed him down a chimney, that’s not surprising,” Fornell quipped in.

 

“Tony?” Inwardly he grinned, he knew Gibbs would know he had something. 

 

“Running down a list of substitutes who used to teach back then. Lo and behold, his wife, a third grade teacher, substituted under her maiden name. Subbed for social studies and Western history in 2001.” Gibbs looked to Fornell smugly and Tony preened at the look of pride he saw in Gibbs’ eyes. 

 

***

They brought in Bright’s wife and Tony’s insides twisted at having her anywhere near Gibbs again, despite him not being in the room yet. “She’s scared.” Ziva commented next to him.

 

Tony shuddered, “no, she’s playing us.” 

 

“How do you mean?” 

 

“Dunno, but something’s off about her.”

 

“What would you do if you woke up one day and you discovered you were married to a monster?” 

 

_ Ooh, that could go a number of different ways. Since I know you’re referring to the serial killer type of monster, I guess I would either kill them or Obliviate them and send them to St. Mungos to be with Lockhart. _

 

Tony kept silent and his face grimaced as Gibbs walked into the room with Fornell trailing behind. “Karen, you were a substitute at Lieutenant General Lewis Puller High School.”

 

“I-I’ve worked a lot of schools in the area. What does that have to do with this?” 

 

“Considering we found your husband petrified in the chimney there, quite a bit,” Fornell prompted gently. 

 

“Karen,” Tony’s insides twisted more at the gentleness of Gibbs’ tone and he wanted nothing more than to run in there and stand between Gibbs and this woman that just radiated evil. “We know this is hard…” Gibbs pulled out photos of the other women, “but we’re here to help. It’s important that you tell us the truth.” 

 

Karen flinched, finally, and Fornell leaned forward a little, “when’d you find out?” 

 

“Find out?” Tony watched her carefully and he saw the fear in her eyes, not fear of a husband, but fear of being found out herself. 

 

“That your loving husband was murdering women who looked just like you?” Tony saw the subtle relief at Fornell’s words and in that moment he knew. He knew that she was  the serial killer, but how to tell Gibbs and how to prove it?  _ It’s not like I can just say that I felt her weak squib magic and it was evil. Wait, I could tell Gibbs that, but how to prove it? _

 

“I told you, my husband didn’t do those things.”  _ Truth. _

 

“The toes from their left feet were removed. We think you know why,” Gibbs kept his gentle tone towards the wife, but Tony noticed that maybe Gibbs didn’t believe her innocence. “You mind taking off your shoe and showing us your left foot?” 

 

She looked every bit the scared and grieving wife, “Please.” She pleaded with Fornell. 

 

“Karen?” Gibbs prompted once more. She turned in her chair, but sobbed and didn’t reach down for her shoe. Instead Gibbs knelt at her side and Tony forced himself to stay as Gibbs took off her shoe.

 

“What is it Tony?” Ziva asked him, finally noticing his rigidness. 

 

“She’s the killer, not her husband,” he ground out through clenched teeth.

 

“How do you know?” she looked genuinely confused. 

 

Tony shook his head, “no proof, just know.” 

 

Fornell leaned forward, “your husband was an evil man.”

 

“That thing was not my husband.” her eyes shifted around the room for a second, as if finding the next words. “It wasn’t the man I married. It had to be stopped, don’t you see? I had no other choice!” 

 

“Yeah, you could have gone to the police.” Fornell offered her.  _ No, no, no, Fornell, she’s the fucking killer. _ Tony’s fists clenched and Ziva looked at him worried. 

 

“And have my children live the rest of their lives knowing that monster was their father?! No! I had to. I had to protect them from it.”

 

“Karen, no one should have to live through what you did,” Fornell gently cajoled her. “Believe me when I tell you that there’s no jury in the world that wouldn’t sympathize with you.”

 

Just then a cell phone beeped, Fornell checked himself first and shook his head. Gibbs checked his next and answered it. Gibbs was silent as whoever was on the other end, told Gibbs what looked to be very important news. “Got it Abbs, thanks.”

 

Karen kept sobbing as Fornell tried to comfort her, until Gibbs turned to face them, “Get away from her, Tobias.” Gibbs stood in front of the two-way and as far away from her as he could get. Tony felt a bit relieved that Gibbs was finally staying away from her. “The bodies in the yard are not from five years ago.”

 

“They’re older?” Fornell looked confused. 

 

“No. They’re more recent than that. Her husband wasn’t the serial killer.”  _ And Abby found the proof. Yes! _ “She is.” As Gibbs spoke, Tony saw the mask fall away from Karen and he shuddered as the evil was laid bare for them all to see. 

 

_ God I need to talk to Gibbs after this one.  _

 

***

Tony sat in Gibbs’ basement that night, waiting for the man to come home. He breathed deep and felt parts of him relax that hadn’t relaxed in a long time. He almost didn’t hear the door open upstairs and Gibbs head upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes. Sure enough a few minutes later Gibbs was down there in comfortable looking jeans and a USMC sweater. 

 

Gibbs took in the sight of Tony leaning against the boat, completely relaxed, “DiNozzo.”

 

“You said you had questions, but first I just need to know. Did you know about her, any kind of feeling?”

 

“Had a feeling, thought it was wrong.”

 

Emerald green snapped open and bore into Gibbs with an intensity that he knew Gibbs didn’t expect. “Never doubt your gut, Gibbs.”

 

“What, you think I’m magical?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“What?”

 

Tony sighed, “there are magical beings such as Witches and Wizards. Then there are magical beings called Squibs that while their magic wasn’t powerful enough to manifest for them to be a full Witch or Wizard, but they have a small magical core that can manifest as something else. Squibs are able to see through most common glamours, some squibs think themselves Mundane and their magic amplifies some of their natural abilities. Exceptionally good football players that seem almost superhuman. A gut feeling that is rarely wrong.”

 

“You think I’m a Squib?”

 

Tony shrugged, “there’s a blood test we could do at the American Ministry of Magic, but then we’d have to answer questions about how you found out about magic and then I might get in trouble.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Statue of Secrecy. Not supposed to tell Mundanes about magic.”

 

“But you told me, why?”

 

“I trust you, boss. Even though I was angry at you for leaving and then coming back the way you did, but the way I figure it, once I got my head out of my ass, you did the best you could while your head was all screwed up from the explosion and subsequent coma.”

 

Tony noticed that Gibbs looked shocked at him a moment before the look turned thoughtful, “what about Wizards? How does magic work?” 

 

A grimace graced Tony’s features for a moment,  _ now to scare him off from me _ , “well, with most witches and wizards, they need a tool called a wand to focus and utilize their magic.”

 

“Most?”

 

“Yeah, I’m- I’m a bit more powerful than the average witch or wizard. So, while most witches and wizards can cast one or two spells without a wand, I can cast just about any spell without a wand.”

 

A humorless laugh left Gibbs’ mouth, “Rule Number 5, knew it applied to you.” 

 

Tony smiled a little at the look of pride in Gibbs, “Yeah, I- uh, I can also cast spells non-verbally. So it’s really hard to detect when I use magic.”

 

“You’ve been softening the CDs that Ziva throws at McGee.” 

 

Tony jerked back, “you knew?”

 

“Been watching, closely,” Gibbs was suddenly close to him.  _ Oh, Merlin, I was just expecting to talk. _ “Very closely. You’ve been watching me too.” 

 

Tony swallowed thickly, “you’re my boss, I have to know what you know about magic. Have to keep the secret so I’ve always done extensive research and kept close tabs on my boss.”

 

An odd look crossed Gibbs’ face, “you knew about Shannon and Kelly.”

 

“Yeah, since the first week I started.” Gibbs moved away from him once more and took a deep breath.

 

“Any other Wizards at work?”

 

“Yeah, Ducky and Palmer are both Wizards. I think Ziva’s a squib too, but no proof there. Lee’s a witch, there’s a few in HR.” Tony ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself. He had never told a Mundane about magic before.

 

“Abby? McGee?”

 

“No, they’re both Mundane, Magic and technology don’t tend to mix. I don’t know how Luna manages it, but honestly Luna’s kind of a force all her own.”

 

“Luna went to school with you.”

 

“Yeah, we went to the same school as Ducky. Hell, they were in the same house,” Tony chuckled a little at the memory of Luna raving about how much she loved talking with Ducky and how much she wished that he had gone to school with them. It would have been nice for her to have a friend in her own house. 

 

“House?”

 

“Yeah, Hogwarts divided us into four houses. Slytherin, house of the cunning. Ravenclaw, house of intellect. Hufflepuff, house of the loyal. Gryffindor, house of the brave.” 

 

Gibbs leaned against the counter in the basement and watched him carefully, “Gryffindor.”

 

“Yeah, though I was almost sorted into Slytherin.” Tony chuckled a little and sat down on the floor, not caring whether his suit got dirty on the basement floor. 

 

Gibbs was silent for a long time after that, thinking. “Nathair is magical, isn’t he?”

 

Tony felt his throat constrict and his heart race. The urge to tell Gibbs that he was Nathair bubbled up within him, but as he looked up at Gibbs, he saw that he couldn’t be the one to make the connection for Gibbs. Gibbs had to make that discovery on his own. “Yeah, Gibbs, Nathair is a Wizard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dreams are back :)


	18. Driven

At first Jet was confused, then he felt it. That hot, wet mouth encompassing his cock. He groaned and reflexively jerked his hips forward. The mouth hummed around him and his hands fisted in the sheets in an attempt to control himself. He panted as the tongue inside that mouth moved all around his cock, curling around the sides and stroking up the underside of the appendage. It was as if Nathair were worshiping his cock with his mouth. 

 

“Oh, Jet,” his name was moaned around his cock and he shivered as he felt saliva dripping down his cock outside Nathair’s mouth. 

 

It took nearly all of his will power, but he sat up and gently stroked his hand through the soft locks of the other man’s hair. He saw that Nathair’s eyes were closed in bliss as his cock disappeared into the waiting mouth again and again. Feeling the pleasure building within him, he tightly grasped Nathair by the hair on the back of his head and pulled him off his cock. 

 

Emerald green eyes greeted him and he saw that they were indeed full of bliss and gratitude. He used one hand to gently stroke Nathair’s cheek, while the other kept ahold of the back of the man’s head. An idea came to him and rope began weaving around Nathair’s wrists, holding the man’s hands behind his back. 

 

Slowly, Jet brought Nathair back to his cock. The wet cavern that encompassed him before opened once more and Jet groaned as the willing body beneath him eagerly lapped up the taste that was his cock. He kept pulling Nathair further and further onto his cock and he went easily into the wetness that was Nathair’s mouth. 

 

“My Nathair,” he groaned out loud. He looked down and saw once more that Nathair had closed his eyes,  _ that won’t do. _ “Open your eyes, I want to see you.” 

 

He felt the moan that Nathair let loose just before those striking green eyes opened once more. His fingers remained tangled in those soft locks as he moved Nathair’s head up and down his shaft. There was no resistance as Nathair turned over all control over to Jet, trusting that the other man would know his limits. 

 

“That’s it, Nathair. Just like that.”

 

Nathair hollowed out his cheeks to suck as his head moved up and down, trying to draw out his pleasure. Jet moved a foot between Nathair’s knees and raised his foot to feel the painfully erect cock that belonged to Nathair. A whimper of need reverberated around his cock and Jet groaned again at the sensation. 

 

He sped up the head that he continued to move with his hands and stabilized his leg in between Nathair’s knees, in easy reach for Nathair to rub himself on Jet’s leg. Just as he’d hoped, Jet felt the other man’s leaking cock rubbing against his leg and another moan caused Jet to pull that wet cavern down on his cock roughly as he came down the throat that greedily swallowed all he had to give. Just as he finished and let go of the other man’s head, the mouth remained on his cock and gently continued to move up and down his cock. Nathair’s hips still thrust his cock against Jet’s leg, he just leaned back and took in the sight that was his Nathair, basking in having this connection in their dreams once again. 

 

It seemed all too soon when Nathair’s seed spilled all over his leg and Jet woke once more to an empty bed with wet sheets. Gibbs grumbled at himself as he moved on autopilot to strip his bed and remade his bed with fresh sheets. Once he was finished he glanced at the clock and saw that it was time for him to get up for work anyway. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony shook himself awake as the video ended and the speaker started talking once more. While he was glad that he hadn’t dreamt of Gibbs during that nap, it would have been hilarious if he had. He grinned to himself as he thought about the dream that he had had last night. 

 

“From the video presentation, it’s clear that sexual harassment can take many forms in the workplace. A coworker with elevator eyes,” Tony glanced to Gibbs and proceeded to demonstrate said elevator eyes as his boss stood next to Jenny, “looking you up and down, a coworker shows you a cartoon or photo of a sexual nature.”

 

He leaned back in his chair to Ziva who sat behind him, “if you’re lucky.”

 

“A coworker’s hand, ‘accidentally’ brushes up against your body.” Said with airquotes.

 

Ziva whispered, “if you’re really lucky.” Tony’s gaze turned to Gibbs once more.  _ Never had much luck to begin with. Sigh, c’est la vie.  _

 

Physical contact can be divided into three categories. Green light includes normal behavior.”  _ or it means keep pushing my head down on your cock.  _ “Yellow light includes borderline behaviors such as hugging someone or-”  Abby stood with her hand raised, “yes?”

 

“What’s wrong with hugging people? I hug people all the time.”

 

“You may see it as friendly, but your coworkers may find it offensive.”

 

Abby genuinely looked horrified, “you guys get offended when I hug you?”

 

There was a chorus of no’s from the room till Tony spoke up, “hell no, Abs, you hug me whenever you want.” 

 

He gave her a big smile as she did a little happy shake and held her hands to her chest, “I’m hugging you all in my mind right now.”

 

“We feel the love, Abs,” Tony spoke as their ‘teacher’ spoke up.

 

“DOD policy is very clear about this point, miss,” Tony glanced over to see Gibbs and Jenny both smiling at Abby. “You must first ask permission before making physical contact with a coworker.”

 

“Like, every time?”

 

“Yes. and finally, there’s red light behavior, such as deliberate, unwelcomed touching.” suddenly Tony felt Ziva’s tongue around his ear and his whole body jerked and he was standing and out of his seat before he could contain it. She looked at him, annoyed. “Another question?” 

 

Thinking fast, Tony asked, “Yeah, what if you slap someone on the back of the head like this?” he then demonstrated on McGee who had been sitting next to him. McGee immediately retaliated by backhanding him in the gut. “Would that be considered inappropriate behavior?”

 

“Absolutely. Are you saying that this has actually happened?”

 

It was a miracle that he kept his gaze forward and his face straight, “No, I was just wondering, that’s all.”

 

He sat back down as Palmer raised his hand to ask another question, “yes?”

 

“Uh, yes, uh, what if part of your job, includes...touching naked people and…”

 

“That’s inappropriate at any time.” Tony paid close attention because Gibbs’ phone had just gone off and he was hoping desperately that they had a dead body and they would get to leave. 

 

“Even if they’re dead?”

 

“Why are you touching dead, naked people?” _ Gremlin already said it was part of his job, obviously he works in Autopsy. This woman would be a horrible investigator. _

 

“You see, I work in Autopsy-”

 

“Can we try to keep this discussion focused on the topic-”

 

“Gear up.”  _ Yes! _ Tony did a little happy dance in his head as he bolted out of the room so fast, he didn’t even hear the speaker’s protest about them leaving. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He had watched Tony’s eyes darting to him throughout the sexual harassment seminar and had noticed that every time ‘elevator eyes’ were mentioned, Tony gave a perfect example of them, on him. It left him a little confused,  _ Tony’s a player. He dates woman after woman, why would he be checking me out? _ He had merely shook his head and tuned out the seminar as he thought back to the dream he had had the night before with Nathair. It was good to have the dreams again.

 

Gibbs knelt next to Palmer over the body as he gently closed her eyes, “Ducky won’t be here, he’s got to take his mom to the hospital.”

 

“Is Victoria all right?” 

 

“Well, she cut herself shaving, and for some reason, he thinks you can handle this, Palmer.” Gibbs knew that it was a lie, since Tony had healed his busted up hand in a matter of seconds, but he also hadn’t confronted Ducky and Palmer about the magic stuff, so he had let it go. 

 

“And uh, what do you think, Agent Gibbs?” He could tell that the kid was scared of him and that the kid was trying too hard to go along with Ducky’s lie. 

 

“Well, I don’t know, Palmer. You got a TOD?” He took pity on the kid and went over to the vehicle that their victim had been found in. 

 

“Yes.” He heard the confidence in Palmer’s voice, “Uh, according to the liver probe, she died two hours and 18 minutes ago.”

 

“Does it tell you how?”

 

“Actually, the probe only tells you the difference between ambient temperature and- but you already know all this. Uh, tentatively, I’d say she died from hypoxia, Agent Gibbs.”

 

“Carbon Monoxide poisoning.” 

 

“Yeah, most likely. In 68% of cases, it’s accidental. And, uh, the other 29% are self-inflicted.”

 

“Well, I’m more concerned with the three percent you left out.” Gibbs continued to look over the vehicle as Tim came walking over. 

 

“Palmer, he’s talking about the ones deliberately murdered this way.”

 

Gibbs looked down at her and wondered, “how’d she get on the floor?”

 

Ziva came walking up with their answer, “coworker found her in the passenger seat, in there...doors still closed and the engine running.”

 

“He drove it out, attempted CPR. Tony’s taking a statement now.” McGee finished.

 

“What kind of vehicle is this,” Gibbs glared in at the machinery in the driver’s seat. 

 

“It is a second generation, fully autonomous AI- operated vehicle, boss.” 

 

“Well, yeah. Yeah, I can see that, McGee. I mean, other than the obvious.”

 

“Wait, you actually understood that?” Ziva asked him incredulously. “You know what it does, then?”

 

“Yeah, your basic second generation AI… autonomous… stuff.” From all the machinery in the driver’s seat it was obvious the vehicle was operated by computers, but he wanted to fuck with them a bit. “Where the hell does the driver sit?”

 

He heard the normalness return to Ziva’s voice as she explained, “that’s the point. There isn’t one. It drives itself.”

 

“Boss, AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. It’s a robot.”  _ No wonder Tony’s trying to stay away from the car.  _ Gibbs let a smirk grace his features at his thought.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs was talking with the head of the project and Tony was trying to keep a lid on his magic around the sensitive equipment. Tim was having a field day with the tech that ran through the vehicle and had called Ziva over to share his enthusiasm. 

 

“Ziva, you have really got to see this.” McGee was lying on the floor of the vehicle, excitedly smiling at all the wires and technology.

 

“See what, McGee?” Ziva stepped close to where McGee’s legs were stabilizing him on the floor. 

 

“It’s an Atlas-Seven CPU.” McGee sounded like a kid in a candy store, “it’s the same one developed for the Martian rovers.”

 

“And how does this pertain to the case?”

 

“Well, it doesn’t. I just thought it was cool. See, the thing about-” just then McGee leaned back into the technology and wires, but his leg jerked with him and knocked Ziva off balance. She then fell on top of McGee and Tony appeared around the door and snapped with his camera.    
  
“That better be your handcuffs, or else I might have to find Luna a new boyfriend,” Ziva growled at Tim.

 

“I believe this is a classic yellow light situation.” Tony teased as he snapped a few more photos. 

 

After a bit of grunting and shifting, with Tony gleefully taking pictures to share and laugh at with Luna. “Stop moving, McGee. My hand’s stuck.” 

 

“It’s not the only thing that’s stuck,” Tony commented as he lowered the camera for a different angle to take pictures at. “Make that a red light situation.” 

 

Ziva finally worked herself free with a groan of frustration. She then immediately turned and backhanded him in the stomach, just as one of the scientists was walking around the corner.  _ Torsten?  _

 

“What are you doing?” he sounded personally affronted that they were anywhere near the vehicle. 

 

Tony gave him a blank look, “investigating a… dead naval officer.” 

 

“That’s a $22-million piece of equipment, you…” Tony could feel the insult on the tip of the man’s tongue and leaned forward eagerly to remember the insult, but the man stopped himself, “you people are jeopardizing my entire project.”

 

“We’re doing our jobs,” Tony sounded bored.  _ Aw, no insult, come on that’s half the fun of law enforcement.  _ Instead he turned to McGee, “What’d you find?”

 

“Ah, there’s a USB cable, still attached to the console on the passenger side.” Tony held in his laughter at McGee’s messed up hair and resisted the urge to snap a picture of that for Luna to enjoy as well.

 

“Also bagged a battery for a laptop in the front seat.” Ziva, McGee, and Tony all looked to Engler pointedly.

 

“I removed the laptop,”  _ honesty, good choice. _

 

“We’ll need it,” Tony gleefully told the scientist, predicting that the man would then try to refuse to give it to them. 

 

“Absolutely not,”  _ ding-ding-ding we have a winner, tell us what he’s won.  _ “It contains a backup copy of Otto’s AI.”

 

“Well, whatever Otto is, we’ll need that, too.”

 

Angry german man waved his hands at the vehicle, “ _ that  _ is Otto.” Tony slowly turned his head to face the car that was apparently named Otto.

 

“Already got it covered, Tony.” Ziva smiled at the scientist, she enjoyed messing with people as much as he did. “Tow truck should be here any minute.”

 

_ Oh how I wish I had a pensieve, _ “This is our only prototype! You people- you people are- you’re-”

 

Tony couldn’t resist teasing the man, “we’re cops, Federal Agents, police officers? Maybe if you sound it out it’s easier. You know, English as a third language is always the trickiest one.” Tony met Torsten’s eyes as he teased the man and felt that the man was a wizard, granted not a very powerful one, but a wizard. 

 

“I’ll take the laptop now, please,” Ziva smiled charmingly at the scientist, but Tony knew that she was teasing the man. Torsten gave Tony an odd look before glaring at him and leading ZIva away. 

 

***

“Lieutenant Seabook’s Naval career was most unusual.” Ziva clicked through the Lieutenant’s background on the plasma behind Gibbs’ desk. “No deployments and, as far as I can tell, she never set foot on a ship.”

 

Tony kept his eyes to the computer in front of him as he scoured through the security logs. “Well, she was an egghead. They don’t recruit them to fight wars.”  _ Unlike Hermione. She probably would have loved to work on something like Otto instead of being on the front lines of Riddle’s war. _

 

“No. Just to build the machines for fighting them. Maybe she had enough. I mean, you’d be surprised how many weapon designers take their own lives.”

 

“I may have a better motive,” Tim theorized aloud. “Azeon had everything leveraged on Otto. It fails the drive-off, the company goes bankrupt.”

 

“Sabotage.” Tim’s idea gave Tony a new idea though,  _ but if Azeon wins the drive-off, then Azeon gets the Naval contract and whoever has the most shares, makes a lot of money. _ It piqued his interest enough that he started a search into Azeon stock while he continued looking through the security tapes. 

 

“Someone wanted them to fail.”

 

“Not bad, McGee.”  _ Nope, not bad at all, Probie. Except I may have found us a new lead. I’ll still look into the Azeon stock angle, but Seabrook may have had an admirer.  _

 

“I got one better, curious to know what follows red light behavior, Ziva?” 

 

“A potential pregnancy?” 

 

“It’s a good guess, but not in this case.” Tony clicked a few keys to pull up his security footage on the main plasma. “Check this out. Ran the security footage taken from the lab. 0115. Last two people present were our lieutenant and this guy.” Tony zoomed in on the two people and watched them closely for a minute. “Azeon’s chief mechanic, Jamie Jones. Hold on to your socks. Gets a little steamy.” 

 

Tony was tempted to play it again and watch it on the big screen, which he did, just one more time as Tim asked, “what about the video from this morning, when she died?”

 

_ Oops, sorry Jamie.  _ Tony saw the recognition in Seabrook’s stance, the lack of disgust, the relaxation of his body as she slapped him. “Oh, yeah! Why didn’t I think of that?!” Tony sarcastically bit at McGee as he headslapped the probie before he fast forwarded the video to show his coworkers what he had found. “‘Cause someone erased it. The last image taken from any camera stops at 0537 this morning. And then nothing but snow.”

 

“She was murdered.” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_ Maybe I should tell Tony that I’ve been seeing Lee. I mean she’s a witch, I’m a wizard, so we don’t have to hide from each other. Hell, Tony told me about being Harry and in love with Gibbs. I think I will. _ Palmer thought to himself as he exited the elevator after having had a ‘secret meeting’ with Agent Lee. 

 

“Did you find my bag, Mr. Palmer?”

 

“In the trunk of your car, Doctor.” He set the bag on the table and walked by the sinks. 

 

“Ah, thank you. I’m sorry if I seem a bit flustered today.” 

 

Jimmy was absentmindedly putting on his gloves as he answered the good doctor, “Oh, that’s understandable, Doctor. Gibbs mentioned that your mother cut herself, so what was she doing?”

 

“Oh she was trying to make Wolfsbane potion for a friend of hers that she forgot had already gotten the potion from a rival potion’s master and when he called to remind her of that, she got flustered and the potion blew up in her face so to speak,” during Dr. Mallard’s explanation, he saw that Lee had left a SWAK on his cheek. His eyes widened and he quickly grabbed at some paper towels to wipe off the lipstick. As he was wiping off the remainder of the red from his cheek, Dr. Mallard spoke again. “Are you hiding a secret from me, Mr. Palmer?”

 

Jimmy turned and hid the paper towel behind his back as he ran through his secrets in his head,  _ Agent Lee, the fact that Tony is Harry freaking Potter, or that Luna is my cousin and she’s been begging me to invite you and her over for supper.  _ Jimmy had been trying to find a way to work that one into reality, he loved listening to them talk at Halloween. 

 

“Well, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing myself.”  _ What? _

 

“You are?” 

 

“Yes, only in my case, I have to be careful of heart strain and muscle fatigue.” _ Oh God, is he talking about getting a girlfriend? _ “How long have you been pumping?”

 

_ Pumping?  _ Jimmy chuckled nervously, “I, I wouldn’t call it pumping, Doctor.”

 

“Well, whatever they call it these days, I’m really impressed with you.” 

 

“Really?”  _ Please don’t tell me you’re looking at getting a girlfriend. _

 

“Yes, you’ve certainly got yourself in shape.” Jimmy’s eyebrows rose as he blinked away his confusion,  _ Oh! _ “Have you joined a gym?” 

 

“A gym? Yes, yes, yes, I have,” Jimmy latched onto that lifeline with an intense fervor. “A, uh, few months ago.” He was flexing his arm as Gibbs walked in.

 

“What have we got, Duck?”

 

“Ah, Mr. Palmer’s initial deduction was correct. Lieutenant Seabrook died of carbon Monoxide poisoning.” 

 

Jimmy shyly smiled at the praise and looked to Gibbs to see the man holding back a chuckle at JImmy’s actions. “Tell me something I don’t know.”  _ That Tony’s in love with you, Gibbs, and that his name isn’t even Tony. _

 

“The levels of CO in her blood- five times the fatal dose, yes. She was probably rendered unconscious in less than 30 seconds.”

 

“Not possible, unless she was-”

 

“She was breathing in the exhaust fumes directly from the tailpipe.”

 

“Or someone pumped it into the vehicle.” Jimmy busied himself with tidying up Autopsy as the two old friends talked. It was nice not to have Dr. Mallard angry with Gibbs anymore. Things were peaceful at NCIS again. 

 

“Which makes sense, in light of what else I found. Evidence of assault. Look at her wrists. They’re bruised.” 

 

Jimmy saw something odd flash across Gibbs’ face, “she was restrained.”

 

“And I also found what appear to be bite marks on her inner thighs and back.”  _ I’ve left similar marks on Lee, she’s always shown her appreciation for them.  _

 

“Wonder if she has a boyfriend?” Jimmy asked at the same time as Gibbs told Ducky to run a rape kit. 

 

“I did. That’s when I found this.” Dr. Mallard led them over to the x-rays and pointed at her birth control device, “an intrauterine device. It supports your question as to whether or not she had a lover, Mr. Palmer. As does the fact that when I ran the rape kit, I found frest male genetic material. From last night or early this morning. Abby’s running samples now. I also found traces of engine oil and a particular kind of lotion on her hair and skin.”

 

“The main ingredient was pumice. Maybe her boyfriend is a grease monkey.” 

 

“Yes, her nails and hands were clean. The skin is soft, no calluses to speak of.”

 

“Supports your theory, Palmer. Thanks, Duck.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Jamie Jones was arrested in 1998 for assault and battery on his girlfriend and… she dropped the charges and married him six months later,” Ziva sounded incredulous at the woman’s actions. 

 

Tony had dug into Azeon’s stock and found that Torsten, the annoying Germain Wizard Scientist, owned practically half the company. He had then started to dig into how his coworkers felt about the man. A theory was forming in his head, but it was a little out there and he didn’t want to present it until he had more evidence to support it. 

 

“Well, Jones’ wife asked for a divorce three years ago. Ooh, and there’s a restraining order,”  McGee’s typing partially drowned out Tony’s searching.

 

“Shocking. Tony, what are you working on, you already found us a suspect?”

 

“Eh, not liking it. He’s probably her boyfriend or something.”

 

“Not on him.” McGee seemed to not hear what Tony had said, “He got it against his ex-wife.” Tony gave a chuckle in his head,  _ Sounds like something Gibbs should do. _

 

“Why would you think he’s her boyfriend, did you see what he did?”

 

Tony shrugged, not seeing Gibbs, “eh, some people like it rough. Sometimes people roleplay, tie up the submissive partner. Go a few rounds with a soft leather flogger.”

 

The room looked at Tony for a moment as he ignored them to continue his search. Finally, Ziva turned and saw Gibbs looking at Tony thoughtfully, “Lieutenant Seabook wasn’t alone at Azeon last night, Gibbs.”

 

Ziva’s words made Tony’s head snap up and he looked at Gibbs like a deer caught in the headlights as Gibbs said softly, “she was with a mechanic.”

 

Tim’s eyes flashed between Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva, “yeah. The Azeon security cameras caught it.”

 

“And we think she was sexually assaulted, except for-”

 

“Tony,” Gibbs cut Ziva off and stared intensely at Tony. 

 

Ziva’s eyes joined McGee’s in flitting between Tony and Gibbs before she pulled Gibbs’ attention to the plasma where she played the security footage for him. 

 

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs said softly as he stared at the screen.

 

“We already have a warrant for Jamie Jones the mechanic, but like I said earlier. He could just be a boyfriend and they were role playing. She doesn’t look disgusted at the end and it almost looks like he relaxes after she slaps him.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Some people like it a little rough, boss,” Tony refused to meet Gibbs’ eye and kept his gaze focused on his computer.

 

Suddenly Gibbs was there, looking over his shoulder, “you thinking she wasn’t the target?”

 

Tony tried to suppress the shudder, but wasn’t completely successful, “just a theory, boss.”

 

“Go with Ziva, check out Seabrook’s apartment.” Gibbs’ lips just barely touched Tony’s ear and he fought to keep his breathing even. 

 

“Boss, what about me?” McGee asked once Gibbs left Tony’s space and gathered up his own gear. 

 

“You get with Abby. The CO levels in that vehicle were off the charts. You find out how that happened.”

 

Tony tossed the keys to the van to Ziva, “oh. Letting me drive?”

 

“No,”  _ I would like to keep my lunch, thank you very much. _ “I’m meeting you there. I need to drop something off at the hospital.”

 

“What?”

 

_ My fake girlfriend’s earring.  _ “A stool sample,” he told her sarcastically. “Would you like to see it?”

 

“You want me to stab you in the eye with my knife?” Ziva asked sarcastically back. 

 

Tony arrived at the hospital to see Jeanne receiving a shoulder rub from one of the nurses. One of the male nurses. He knew that a typical boyfriend would be jealous, so he made a note to play that card, though he hated it.  _ Definitely Yellow Light. _ He joked to himself. 

 

“Cytology tests takes 72 hours, but Dr. House gets his results back in ten minutes. It’s ridiculous,” Jeanne was complaining to one of her fellow doctors. He smiled at the memory of watching the latest episode with her.

 

“In the entertainment world, they call that ‘suspension of disbelief,’ actually.” 

 

Jeanne graced him with a gigantic smile and moved out from under Mr. Nurse’s hands. “Tony!”

 

“Hey,” he gave her a smile back.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Oh, well, I was in the area, and I thought I would, uh, drop this off.” He held up her earring.

 

“You found it,” he saw the quiet gratitude in her face and made himself happy with it. 

 

“Yes, I did.”  _ A lot easier to find lost things when you can just wave your fingers and it magically appears.  _

 

“Thank you,” she gently took the earring from his hand and he saw that she had actually planned to leave the earring at ‘his’ place so that she could come back again. He had convinced Jenny to let him rent another apartment for this ‘op’ so that she wouldn’t know where he actually lived. 

 

“So, uh,”  _ time to play the jealousy card. _ “Who’s the guy molesting your neck over there.” He nodded his head in the direction of Mr. Nurse.

 

“Oh?”

 

“Just curious.”

 

“Am I detecting a little bit of jealousy here?” despite the teasing, Tony could tell that Jeanne was happy he was a little ‘jealous.’

 

He gave her a laugh, “me? Jealous?” He suddenly turned serious, “yeah. Who was he?”

 

“He’s gay.”  _ Yes, I know this, inner gaydar hasn’t failed me, like, ever.  _

 

“Okay, good.” 

 

Jeanne chuckled at him, “what’s next, insisting that I can’t see other people?” 

 

“Oh, no, that would… that would just be cruel.”

 

“You’re the one who was too busy to see me last night.”  _ Yeah, I was busy trying to make my mental mojo on you work more effectively.  _ Tony his his wince with a grin.

 

“Yeah, and I’ll make it up to you.”

 

“When?”

 

“Tomorrow. I promise.” 

 

Her voice got low and seductive, “promise?” She then pulled out a red hospital band that he scowled at.

 

“What’s that, marking your territory?” He grit his teeth at the sense of _ wrong _ that went up his whole arm and he fought the urge to tear the offending plastic off his arm. 

 

“Just a reminder. Just until you make good on your promise.” He grinned at her and tried not to wince at the  _ thing _ on his arm. 

 

He bid her goodbye and headed for Seabrook’s apartment. His left hand kept clenching with the urge to rip off the band, but he knew for the sake of Jenny’s op, he couldn’t. He had to talk to Gibbs about this. He had to tell Gibbs about the whole thing. Jeanne, Jenny, La Grenouille, Tango-Eight, everything.  _ Tonight, I’ll go see him tonight. _

 

He walked into the apartment and smiled at Ziva, trying to hide his discomfort. “Looks like she did  _ Trading Spaces _ with John Nash. Russell Crowe played him in  _ A Beautiful Mind, _ that Ron Howard movie about the insane mathematician?” 

 

Ziva gave him a careful look, “what kind of tests are you getting done?”

 

“Why, you worried about me?” 

 

“You’re keeping a paper bag filled with crap in your desk- what do you think?” _You believed me?_ _Ugh, you’re as bad a Hermione was. All worrying about me, but not digging any deeper when I give you a sarcastic answer._

 

“I think you should go and check the bedroom. That is, unless you want me to come with you… and help.” While she took his bait of annoyance, she still looked at him curiously. “What?”

 

“Just wondering if offering to take me to a bedroom constitutes sexual harassment. Especially when you would prefer Gibbs in my place,” he rolled her eyes at her dig and got to work himself at processing the apartment before she yelled for him. “Tony! Get in here!” He arrived and found Jamie Jones himself, in a position that he himself very much wanted to be in. 

 

Tony was proud of himself for not whimpering at the image/memory of him in a similar position. He swallowed his suddenly dry mouth and fought to calm his racing heart. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

McGee walked out of the elevator to the evidence garage, looking for Abby, “Abby?” 

 

“Over here.”

 

“Over where?” He glanced into Otto and didn’t see her playing around with the electronics.

 

“Over down here,” she pulled herself out from under Otto with a cheshire grin on her face. 

 

Tim looked down at her curiously, “I’m trying to decide if this is a yellow light or a red light situation.” 

 

Abby laughed at him as he helped her up, “you only  _ wish _ I was still sexually harassing you, besides, you have Luna for that now.”

 

“So, uh, Gibbs wants us to figure out how so much CO got pumped into the vehicle’s cabin.”

 

“Okay, first of all, McGee, his name...is Otto.” She got very animated as she lectured him. “O-T-T-O.” She spelled it out in ASL. “It’s a palindrome. And second… he is so much more than a vehicle. I’ve never seen programming like this. It’s complex, elegant, visionary - it’s way out of my league. You?”

 

“I got lost about 50 lines in. Seabook was operating at a whole different level,” Tim admitted to Abby.

 

“If they used the AI to sabotage or redirect the exhaust into the ventilation system, that could take us months to track,” Abby looked forlornly at Otto.

 

“Make sure you tell Gibbs that.”

 

“I did. I told him we needed help from the Azeon people,” Abby wrung her hands nervously.

 

“How? Right now they’re all suspects.” 

 

Abby nodded, “that’s what he said.”

 

Tim sighed, “great. Well, how long did he give us this time?” 

 

“Today.”

 

Tim blinked at her, he should have known by now that’s what Gibbs would expect. “We need help. Hey! What about Luna?”

 

“That’s a great idea, Tim,” she told him sarcastically. Just then the elevator doors dinged and Tim felt himself relax as he just knew who had stepped off the elevator.

 

“Abby said you needed some help with some coding? Delatura love coding,” Luna smiled serenely at them and Tim shared a smile with Abby. He should have known better by now.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony and Ziva watched Jamie Jones in Interrogation. “What do you think, Tony?”

 

“Like I said earlier, probably likes it rough in the bedroom.”

 

Just then his phone rang, the phone he had for Jeanne. He bit back his normal greeting of  _ DiNozzo. _ “Tony.” 

 

“Am I catching you at a bad time?”

 

_ Yes. _ “No, not at all, what can I do for you?”

 

“Tomorrow night, I was thinking sushi. There’s a great new place in Georgetown.”

 

“Okay, sounds great.”

 

“Well, don’t sound so excited,” she sarcastically admonished him.

 

_ Shit, too monotone. _ “I’m at work. But, right, got it.” She kept talking and he kept his affirmatives clipped and short. However, just as he was about to close the phone, Ziva grabbed at his hand. “What part of inappropriate touching don’t you understand?” 

 

She forced his hand to turn and she saw who was calling,  _ thank Merlin Jeanne called from the hospital. _ “Uni Hospital? Test results came back already?” 

 

He thought for a second before he came up with the perfect answer, “I’m pregnant. McGee’s gonna be very proud.” He saw that the lab tech in the room was giving them the stink-eye, “what are you looking at? Keep an eye on the jumpsuit.” With that he left Observation and went to get himself a coffee. 

 

As he was about to head into the elevator he felt Abby panicking. He ran for the stairs and got down to the evidence garage just as Gibbs was getting off the elevator. He saw Luna looking around seemingly panicked and whispering something, with her hand on the hood of the car.

 

“ Munda prius quod caeli,”  _ cleanse the air? _ Then he saw it, Abby in the passenger seat of Otto. 

 

“DiNozzo, the kill switch!” Gibbs yelled at him as he ran for the fire extinguisher. Tony pushed the alarm and grabbed the fire extinguisher and hit the window so he could get to the kill switch. Once the doors unlocked, Gibbs opened the door and pulled Abby out of the car. 

 

“Permission to hug you?”

 

Before Abby could even finish her question Gibbs was talking, “oh, you never have to ask, Abbs.” 

 

Tony looked over to see Tim hugging a shaken Luna, “I didn’t know what to do. I panicked.” 

 

“You did fine, Lu-lu.” Gibbs shot him a questioning look and he shot back a subtle shake of his head.  _ Magic. _

 

“What happened,” Tim asked as Tony slid a chair over for Abby to sit in. 

 

“I almost bought the farm, McGee. I even saw that old lady telling me to run to the light,” Abby rambled. 

 

Tim looked nervously at them all, “boss, my back was only turned for a few seconds. Luna, why didn’t you get my attention?”  Luna buried her head in Tim’s shoulder, as if scared, though Tim’s tone was gentle.

 

“You okay?” Gibbs kept a hand on the side of Abby’s face in a gentle caress. 

 

“Yeah, I’m really lightheaded.”

 

“Gibbs! Evidence garage called in an emergency alert?” Ziva asked with two security guards behind her.

 

“Stand down, Ziva. It was us,” Tony reassured her.

 

“You attacked the car?” Ziva asked.

 

Gibbs pointed at the car accusingly, “the car tried to kill Abby.”

 

“I think there was a short,” Abby began. “When I tried to unbuckle my seatbelt, it pinned me back and the windows shut and the engines started. Luna put her hand on the car and it sounded like the engine sputtered a bit. It triggered all the doors in the car to lock. And then the whole cabin filled up with exhaust. A few minutes more, I would’ve been singing hymns with my angels right now.”

 

“Abby I would’ve noticed by then,” McGee defended as he let go of Luna and checked out Otto.

 

“I’d have apparated you out, first,” Luna mumbled so low that only Tony and Gibbs could hear. Gibbs shot Tony a look and he just gave a small smile and shook his head.  _ I’ll explain when I come over tonight.  _

 

“Then I would’ve hugged you, McGee.”

 

“So Lieutenant Seabrook was killed by a malfunction?” Ziva wondered.

 

“No, this was too specific, there was a set order to the actions that the car did,” Luna explained. “It was deliberate, and made to look like suicide. I don’t think Seabrook was the intended victim. I also don’t think you’re mechanic did this. This was programed.” 

 

Gibbs looked to McGee and Luna, “figure it out.” He then turned to Tony, “what’d you say to Jones?”

 

“Nothing. He’s been asking about Lieutenant Seabook. Acting like she’s still alive.”

 

“Come on, Ducky’s checking you out.” Gibbs gently got Abby to her feet and led her to the elevator as Tony took Abby’s other side. 

 

“I’m fine, I just-”

 

“It’s not a request, Abby.” They dropped Abby off with Ducky and Palmer and explained what had happened and Gibbs stalked his way back up to Interrogation. 

 

“This is not going to be good,” Tony held the door open for Ziva and him to enter Observation. 

 

Gibbs stormed into Interrogation and Jamie immediately began defending himself, “Look, this is all just a big misunderstanding, Agent Gibbs.” Gibbs paced around the room, still angry at nearly losing Abby, “all you have to do is call one phone number, man.” 

 

Gibbs slammed down a pen and paper pad, “lawyer?”

 

“No. Roni. Look, I know what it must have looked like back at her apartment but-” Jamie went to get up, and Gibbs slammed him back down in the chair. 

 

“Lieutenant Seabrook’s your girlfriend now?” 

 

“Yeah. Look, we worked together for a few years, we started dating maybe six months back.”

 

“Dating?” 

 

“Yeah.”

 

Gibbs walked over to the tv and started turned it on. Tony told the tech to play the security footage they had set up. “What’s that look like?”

 

“It’s a stupid game, man.”  _ Yeah, stupid to do in full view of a video camera, man. _ “Only when we’re alone.”

 

Gibbs moved closer to Jamie, “You like games, Jones?”

 

“We’re just role playing, all right? It’s not like we’re freaks.” Tony flinched at the word and knew that Ziva saw it. “Come on, man, am I going to lose my security clearance over this-?” Jamie tried to stand up and get Gibbs’ attention.

 

“Hey! You almost killed one of my people today!” Gibbs pinned Jones to the table and an image of Gibbs pinning him to a table had Tony frozen to the spot. 

 

“What?”

 

“That damn Humvee you used to kill Lieutenant Seabrook.”

 

“Roni… what the hell are you talking about?” Tony could hear the panic rising in Jones’ voice as what Gibbs was saying registered in his brain.

 

“Roni is downstairs, Jones!” Gibbs pulled Jones up off the table and brought him over to the tv before clicking the remote. “On a steel slab!”

 

“This is one of her jokes, right?” Tony may not have been able to see his face, but the pain at the very idea of Roni being dead was evident in his voice. “Is she behind the glass? Huh? Because if you are, Roni, this isn’t funny! Roni… tell me it’s not real.”  _ Grieves faster than I do. Denial, anger, bargaining. Then again, I tend to feel things a bit more than other people, I’ve noticed.  _ Tony sighed as he watched Gibbs and Jones. He saw the sympathy at the man’s pain on Gibbs’ face and thought of the man’s lost wife and daughter. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

McGee stared at the computer screen as his thoughts ran around in his head. His fingers stuttered over his keyboard and his hand was covered by a smaller, gentler hand. He looked over to Luna who smiled encouragingly at him.

 

“It wasn’t your fault. There was nothing you could have done, Tim. Abby is safe now,” she bumped shoulders with him for a moment before he smiled at her and went back to work.

 

Finally he leaned back and whispered to himself, “I did it, Abby. I know how they got in.”

 

He didn’t see it, but Luna glanced behind them and smiled at her friend. Abby took a step closer to them, “How did you know I was here?”

 

Tim jerked and slowly turned his head to see Abby and Luna sharing a smile, “I didn’t. Look, Abby I’m sorry-”

 

He was cut off by Abby wrapping her arms around his shoulders and Luna cuddling up to his side. “I know.”

 

Tim chuckled a bit, “I thought you were supposed to ask for permission first.”

 

“Never with you, Tim.” Abby smiled and squeezed him tighter as he wrapped an arm around Luna’s shoulders. He reveled in the peace that he felt, Abby’s forgiveness and his arms around his angel Luna. 

 

“Should call, Gibbs,” Tim gently whispered to them after a bit. 

 

Abby smiled before she dialed Gibbs’ familiar number, “we figured it out. Well, Tim figured it out.” 

 

Gibbs arrived shortly thereafter and Tim started the explanation, “the reason that we couldn’t find how they hacked the AI program was they didn’t.”

 

“They snuck in before the system was even on-line.” Abby continued.

 

“Makes sense,” Gibbs nodded. 

 

“There were a series of commands inserted into the flash memory of the BIOs at boot-up,” Luna continued the round of techno-babble/explanation. 

 

Abby stood, holding her ever present Caf-Pow!, “They waited until the conditions were met, and then, bam, killer car syndrome.” 

 

“Once executed, they purged from memory. The only trace left, an extra space on one of the motherboard’s bio chips.”

 

“Figured it’d be something like that,” Gibbs said nonchalantly. Luna snorted back a laugh and Abby smiled teasingly at Gibbs. Tim just looked confused. 

 

“Right. We know the program was flashed from a physical device that was tied into the system.”

 

Tim nodded and found his voice, “memory stick. SD card. We just need to find it.”

 

“And when we do, we’ll have the killer code and a clue to who wrote it,” Luna smiled serenely at Gibbs as he turned to the table behind them and picked up a camera.

 

Abby leaned to Tim, “I think we lost him. We need to try it again but slower.”

 

“Have faith, Abs,” Luna continued to smile at them all. 

 

Gibbs turned back around, holding up the SD card from the digital camera, “so what you’re saying, for example, is we need to find something this small in a Humvee jammed with $22million worth of electronics.” 

 

Tim nodded, “pretty much.”

 

Gibbs’ shoulders slumped as he dropped the SD card in the pocket of Abby’s coveralls, “we’re screwed.”

 

“Told you he’d get it, pay up,” Luna held out her hand as Abby and Tim shared a look before setting ten dollars each into her hand as Gibbs left. Just then Tim’s phone beeped with a new text message.

 

Tim opened it up and saw that it was from Tony.  _ Told you Probie, never ever bet against Luna, you’ll lose every time. _

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony chuckled to himself as he sent the text just before he entered MTAC.He saw that the three from the airport were on the big screen and had a feeling that she was calling him for something to do with them. He looked to Jenny expectantly, “you wanted to see me?”

 

“You have plans tonight, Tony.”

 

“Actually yes, I was going to-”

 

“Cancel them. We’ve had these three under observation ever since you tagged their bags at the airport. They made reservations for dinner tonight, here.” The screen changed to the website for  _ Windsongs _ .  _ They have a great Risotto, not as good as mine, but pretty close. Hmm, maybe I could take Gibbs there on a date. _ Tony smiled to himself for a second at the thought as he let his mind wander with the fantasy for a second. 

 

“The reservation is for four. I want to know who they’re meeting with,” Jenny continued, not noticing his distracted thoughts.

 

“Excellent. I’ve always wanted to try the food at this place, but it’s a little outside of my price range.”  _ If I weren’t rich as hell from Inheritances and Goblins weren’t as trustworthy as they are...for the right price.  _

 

“You won’t be inside. We couldn’t risk them IDing you as the baggage handler from the airport.”  _ Then why use me at all? _

 

Instead of voicing his question he sighed as if in disappointment, “so what’s the plan?” 

 

“We’re going to take a more covert approach on this one.”

 

“Oh, I ever tell you covert’s my middle name?” He smiled at her as he made plans in his head to get ahold of some hairs from the janitor for some polyjuice potion he kept in stasis for such covert operations. There was a reason he was the best undercover agent on the East Coast, and it wasn’t just his acting skills.

 

***

John the Janitor wasn’t a bad looking guy, but he looked nothing like Tony and that was what he needed right then. He grabbed his guitar and set himself up as a street performer on the corner where he could easily see the restaurant. He smiled at the dog that kept howling along with his singing, their melodies blending rather beautifully in his mind. 

 

_ Here we stand _

_ Worlds apart _

_ Hearts broken in two, two, two _

 

He kept his gaze even on the people inside at the table. 

 

“You’re holding out on us, Tony. You’re quite the singer,” Jenny praised in his ear.  _ Yeah, too bad I don’t want to sing for you, Jenny.  _ Rather than respond to her comment, he kept quiet and continued to sing as he kept his eyes trained on the group that sat by the window of the restaurant, they had just sat down.

 

_ Sleepless nights _

_ Losing ground _

_ I'm reaching for you, you, you _

 

The dog howled behind him and he grinned at the thought of Sirius howling instead of the dog behind him. At that thought, he glanced behind him and saw that it was in fact an actual dog and mentally sighed in relief. 

 

_ Feelin' that it's gone _

_ Can't change your mind _

_ If we can't go on _

_ To survive the tide _

_ Love divides _

 

Finally someone walked through the door of the restaurant and joined the other three at their table. He kept his gaze steady as Jenny barked the orders to “Isolate and freeze-frame.” 

 

_ Someday love will find you _

_ Break those chains that bind you _

_ One night will remind you _

_ How we touched _

_ And went our separate ways _

_ If he ever hurts you _

_ True love won't desert you _

_ You know I still love you _

_ Though we touched _

_ And went our separate ways _

 

The group talked and Tony let his mind wander as he kept looking to the group. He was too far away to effectively read their lips, but Tony comforted himself with the fact that Kort was the only wizard among the group.

 

_ Troubled times _

_ Caught between confusions and pain, pain, pain _

_ Distant eyes _

_ Promises we made were in vain _

_ In vain, vain _

 

He did a quick glance down to see his guitar case was getting full of change and bills. He knew he was good, but to get that much from just one street performance?  _ Maybe I went into the wrong cover profession. _ Tony joked to himself.

 

_ If you must go _

_ I wish you love _

_ You'll never walk alone _

_ Take care my love _

_ Miss you love _

 

With the people talking in the restaurant and him unable to do anything else, Tony let his mind wander. His mind wandered over the lyrics and how well they fit the situation between him and Gibbs. 

 

_ Someday love will find you _

_ Break those chains that bind you _

_ One night will remind you _

_ How we touched _

_ And went our separate ways _

_ If he ever hurts you _

_ True love won't desert you _

_ You know I still love you _

_ Though we touched _

_ And went our separate ways _

 

Despite the fact that they had yet to actually  _ touch _ or do anything, his life still felt touched by Gibbs. Ever since the explosion that had taken Gibbs away from him, albeit temporarily, it had felt like Gibbs was worlds apart from him.

 

_ Oooooooooh _

_ Someday love will find you _

_ Break those chains that bind you _

_ One night will remind you _

_ If he ever hurts you _

_ True love won't desert you _

_ You know I still love you _

 

Just then Kort began staring out the window and was watching him carefully. He remembered that the man was a wizard, but he didn’t think that Kort was able to sense different magical cores.  _ I’ve never heard of anyone other than me being able to do it. Then again it’s not too common of an ability. _ Tony hoped that he hadn’t been made and finished out his song.

 

_ I still love you, girl _

_ I really love you, girl _

_ And if he ever hurts you _

_ True love won't desert you _

_ Nooooooooo _

_ Nooooooooo _

 

Oh how he wanted to sing Gibbs instead of girl in that last verse. Tony contented himself with the fact that his mission was nearly over, he was tired and he had to stay out a couple more hours just to ensure that his cover wasn’t blown.

 

***

While it had been a profitable night, $250 that Jenny had so graciously let him keep, Tony was tired the next day. He had been out there, singing for nearly four hours so as to sell the undercover role of street performer. There hadn’t even been a dream with Gibbs to lessen the blow of his exhaustion. 

 

Abby, McGee, and Luna had been up all night tearing apart Otto to try to find the program that had tried to kill Abby.  _ At this rate, they might as well ask Lu-lu to join us here at NCIS. Wonder what she got her degrees in in the last few years? _

 

Tony shook his head and slowly sat up from where he had hidden under his jacket for a nap. He knew that Jones had elected to help the Tech-savvy trio put Otto back together so the scientists from Azeon could come and check out their precious baby. 

 

“You alright?” Ziva’s voice cut through his waking brain and he worked extra hard to get it into gear.

 

“Define ‘alright.’” He grumped at her.

 

Ziva sighed, “find out the results from the medical tests yet?” 

 

Tony slowly raised his head, which was as fast as he could do so at that moment. She actually sounded concerned, despite liking the confirmation that she actually cared about him, she was getting annoying. He decided to go with the least confrontational option in his head at the moment. “Not yet.” 

 

He pulled his arm in front of his face to look at his watch, “Time’s the Azeon team getting here?” 

 

She chuckled a little, “40 minutes ago. You fell asleep.”  _ Shit _ . “Gibbs and Jenny are stalling them in her office now.” Tony cringed and quickly settled his jacket back around his shoulders. 

 

A little bit later, Abby, McGee, Luna, and Jones came up to the bullpen. Gibbs was leading the Azeon team down the stairs from Jenny’s office and Tony dreaded meeting Gibbs’ gaze. He needn’t have worried because Gibbs just walked past them and didn’t even glance in his direction. 

 

***

Jenny stood in the middle of the bullpen and basically reamed the whole team. “We have let a robot-killer Humvee loose on the streets of Washington.” Tony didn’t appreciate her attacking his team for something that wasn’t even their fault.

 

“Uh, technically, Director, it’s a second-generation, fully-” Luna interrupted McGee’s correction with a hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Obviously they can remotely control the vehicle, therefore we should work to trace the signal, Abby, Tim, Mr. Jones, let’s track Otto,” Luna led the way to Abby’s lab with the other three trailing behind her. 

 

Gibbs nodded his approval and without saying anything turned to look at Ziva pointedly, “BOLO, on it, Gibbs.”

 

Tony didn’t even wait for Gibbs to look to him, he was already grabbing his gear, “I’ll take the Beltway.” 

 

Luna sent him updates via Patronus, how she didn’t kill the technology she had to be around, he had no idea and chalked it up to Luna being Luna. 

 

***

McGee called with Otto’s location and he met the rest of the team where Otto had stopped. They approached the vehicle as they normally would and a thought crossed his mind at the futility of approaching a vehicle with weapons drawn when there was most likely no one inside. Still they cleared the vehicle and McGee went straight for the location where the “killer chip” had been found. 

 

“When I told you to put this car back together, I didn’t mean put it back together with the only piece of evidence we had on the killer,” Gibbs berated McGee.

 

“Didn’t, learned from you boss. We put in a copy. Abby’s got the original.” McGee typed away on a tablet that he had pulled out of Otto’s front. “Otto has five stereo cameras. Hoping one of them got a picture of our guy.”

 

“Well, we’re definitely dealing with someone on the inside.” Tony commented as McGee clicked through the pictures. “They knew where all of Otto’s cameras were.” So far the cameras only showed forest. 

 

“The only picture I got is this.” It was a blurry figure that they couldn’t even tell if it was male or female. 

 

“They went to a lot of trouble to get the chip back. Why?” Gibbs asked them as he walked around to the back of the vehicle.

 

Tony’s gaze followed his boss, “well, like you said, it’s the only evidence we have, boss.”

 

“They know we can link it to ‘em. How?” 

 

“There weren’t any prints on the surface,” McGee informed them. “The program’s in assembly language, I’m not sure.”

 

Just then Gibbs’ phone rang and it was Abby, apparently they were in fact from Azeon and they were active right then. Gibbs barked them all into their cars and they raced towards Azeon. First thing they did was gather all the scientists in the same room, Tony had his money pegged on either Torsten to take out the competition, or Dr. Pike trying to take out Torsten.

 

“You’re sure about this, Agent Gibbs?” Pike sounded nervous as Gibbs paced the room while McGee searched the computer. 

 

“We sure about this, McGee?”

 

“Abby gave me the specific IP address for the computer used to access Otto. I’ll know it when I find it.” 

 

Jamie came up to Tony just then and at a glance, he knew that Jamie was in a frame of mind to hit first and ask questions later. Tony pulled Jamie to the side, “you being here is not going to help us find Roni’s killer.”

 

“I gotta know,” the man gazed into his eyes with such sincerity and hurt that it felt like a physical blow to Tony. He knew the pain of lost love, granted his love had come back, but Jamie had at least been with his love. 

 

“Stay with Ziva,” Tony nodded in the direction of their Mossad ninja and went back to watching the scientists. 

 

“Boss!” McGee called out, “IP address matches this one.” 

 

Pike immediately turned to Torsten, “Engler.”

 

Jamie tried to run over and punch the german wizard, but Tony held him back and spun Jamie away before he rounded on the scientist, speaking softly, “wasn’t you, just go along with it, we have to incriminate the true killer.” 

 

Tony had been looking into Torsten’s eyes and had pushed past the man’s mental defenses in the moment of weakness at the accusation and had seen the man’s innocence. Pike then continued accusing, trying to sell the story, “you were jealous of Roni from the moment you met her.”

 

Tony held the man’s hands behind his back and was making a show of putting cuffs on him without actually putting them on, “ask for proof.”

 

“I demand to know what proof you have against me.” 

 

Gibbs then held up the SD card that Tony had seen him take out of his camera. “This.” 

 

“A flash chip?”

 

“It was used to kill Lieutenant Seabrook.” Tony kept a hand on the man’s shoulders to keep him still and made sure his body hid the unbound hands.

 

Ziva, however thought Torsten really was their guy, “the one you took from the vehicle was a copy.”

 

“Then let me see the code. Everyone here has their own specific style. I can tell you with certainty who wrote that one.” Torsten glanced to Tony pleadingly, but before anyone could respond, Pike butted in.

 

“As can I, Engler. May I?” 

 

Gibbs handed the SD card to Pike who took it to the computer and after a bit turned around and told them all that the SD card was blank. Gibbs grinned at Tony. Tony let Engler go and immediately began handcuffing Pike.

 

‘W-what is the meaning of this?”

 

“Dr. Pike, the only thing you erased from this chip are my photos. If Torsten had wanted the chip, he could have taken it when he found Lieutenant Seabrook. The real chip is in the evidence locker at NCIS.” Gibbs informed the guilty man. 

 

Jamie then yelled at Pike, “she thought of you like a father!”

 

“She was supposed to take the morning off, Jamie.” Pike looked out over the room, “it was an accident.” 

 

“Who was supposed to drive Otto that morning?” Gibbs asked as Pike pleaded with the room.

 

Engler stiffened next to Tony, “me. You...senile old fool. You were trying to kill me.”

 

“I did it for all of us. He owns half the company. When Otto wins that race, we would have been stuck working with him forever. Nobody deserves that. You smug bastard. I never should’ve brought you in on this.” 

 

Pike continued to shout his defense at them all as Ziva walked up next to him, “if ‘red light’ is for sexually assaulting a coworker, what color is for murder?” 

 

A smile played at Tony’s lips, “uh, how’s ‘black light’ sound?” 

 

“Works for me,” Ziva nodded and followed after Gibbs and McGee as they made their way back to the car. 

 

Torsten then came up to Tony, “you entered my mind without my permission, Agent DiNozzo.”

 

“Sorry, had to make sure you were innocent,” Tony turned on his charm as he smiled at Torsten. 

 

“Thought I wouldn’t recognize your magical signature, Potter?” the voice changed to one that was far more familiar to Tony than he cared for. 

 

_ Shit,  _ Tony turned to see Torsten,  _ no, that’s Malfoy. How the fuck did I not see that before? _ “Glamours, you’ve been wearing glamours. How? Magic and tech don’t mix Malfoy?”

 

“Lovegood helped me to develop them, she’s quite good at blending magic and technology. It intrigued me enough that I got into the field myself. Pike was wrong, I own the entire company,” Malfoy smirked at Tony before turning and walking away. 

 

_ Luna working with Malfoy?  _ Questions zoomed through his mind as he watched Malfoy rejoin his scientists.  _ I’m losing it I swear. _

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs walked through the Bullpen to see Ziva still there, working on something. He leaned over the divider, “hey. It’s late, go home.” 

 

Ziva didn’t even look at him as she answered, “just doing a little research.”

 

“On what?” Gibbs leaned his head over and saw the answer even as she gave it.

 

“Y. Pestis. A very nasty illness. It can cause permanent damage to the heart, lungs, and kidneys. And in some cases, patients cna relapse months or even years later.” Gibbs grit his teeth as she listed off information that he already knew. He didn’t want the reminder of Kate, the reminder of Nathair nearly dying. “Tony had it.” 

 

It was a miracle that Gibbs kept walking over to his desk at that revelation.  _ I thought Nathair had it.  _ He thought to himself just before scenes flashed in his mind. Scenes that he had seen before, only this time he knew it was Tony that was the subject.

 

_ “I work with a pair of wankers,” Tony looked between McGee and Kate. _

 

_ He smiled at the easy opening, “and you make three, Tony.” _

 

_ “Morning, Boss,” came the expected reply. _

 

_ “Morning,” Kate called out, she sounded miserable.  _

 

_ “Cold or flu?”  _

 

_ “Just plain cold. Don’t worry, I will sneeze into my tissues….unlike some people.” She gave a pointed look to Nathair.  _

 

_ “I have allergies, Kate.” _

 

_ “Never had allergies,” he felt compelled to add, “never had a cold.” _

 

_ “Never had a cold?” Kate sounded incredulous.  _

 

_ “Nope, Never had the flu, either.” _

 

_ “Why do I believe that?” Kate nodded to Tony.  _

 

_ “If you were a bug, would you attack Gibbs,” Tony joked.  _

 

_ “I get colds all the time,” Tim lamented.  _

 

_ “Of course you do, probie.”  _

 

_ “This one is just addressed to ‘NCIS Special Agent.’” Gibbs saw McGee hold up an envelope. _

 

_ “I think that’s mine, McGee.” Tony offered up.  _

 

_ “Huh? How do you know?” Tony jerked the envelope out of Tim’s hand and flipped over the envelope. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the pair of lips on the envelope and figured it probably was for Tony and scowled as jealousy flooded him just as his gut rolled in unease.  _

 

_ “I recognize the lips and the scent,” Gibbs tried to ignore the team’s antics after that. Till Tony had sliced it open and a white powder came billowing out of the envelope once he had blown into it. Time seemed to freeze for a moment before protocol kicked Gibbs into action and he stood on his desk to get everyone’s attention. _

 

_ “We’ve opened a letter with white powder. Use the southeast corridor to the holding room. You all know the drill.” _

 

_ “Tony,” Kate called out and tossed him a water bottle. He felt a moment of pride as his agents worked together before he looked over at Tim who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He got Tim going and made sure their floor was evacuated. He looked around the empty bullpen and allowed himself a moment of heartbreak. Whatever it was, Tony had the highest chance of infection.  _

 

_ *** _

_ “He’s dying Ducky,” Kate cried into Ducky’s shoulder. _

 

_ “Ah, the hell he is.” He brushed passed them and stalked into the isolation area. _

 

_ “Whoa, whoa, whoa, who the hell are you?” This Dr. Brad Pitt he had been hearing about stood in his way. _

 

_ “His boss. The bug has a suicide gene.” He growled and made to move around the man.  _

 

_ “It’s dead?” _

 

_ “Been dead for over an hour. He’s no longer infectious.” The doc and nurse left and he bent over and his lips brushed against Tony’s ear. He inhaled for a moment and let his heart break all over again, Tony smelled like hospital and sickness.  _

 

_ “Tony, listen to me. You listening,” he listened to the ragged breathing of the man lying before him.  _

 

_ “I’m list- I’m listening, boss,” he gasped out.  _

 

_ “You will not die, you got that?”  _ I couldn’t handle it if you died _. Something told Gibbs to slap the top of the man’s head. “I said, you will not die.” _

 

_ “I got you, boss.” _

 

_ “Good,” his gut settled down, he smiled and stood back up. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the phone that had been ringing nearly nonstop. A little more reason to live wouldn’t hurt. He put the phone into Tony’s hand, “It’s your new cell. I’d get the number changed. Women keep calling for, “Spanky.”  _

 

“I know, Ziva, I was there.” Gibbs’ voice was barely even. 

 

“Did you know that he had some tests done recently?”  _ No, he didn’t Ziva.  _ “and he’s been wearing a hospital bracelet on his wrist.”  _ Yeah, for the psych ward.  _

 

“Nope.” Gibbs shrugged on his coat and felt more weighed down than he had in a long time. 

 

“I asked him why, but he won’t tell me.”

 

“Then he’s probably got a pretty good reason.” Gibbs shut the elevator doors and made his way to his home on autopilot. 

 

However, when he got home, he had a surprise waiting for him. Tony was sitting in his basement, leaning against his boat with a glass half-full of bourbon in his hands. 

 

“Hey, boss.” 

 

“Tony,” the memory of the Y.pestis incident still fresh in his mind and he was unsure whether Nathair had ever even had it in the first place and why he had thought Nathair had had it, and why he had replaced Tony with Nathair. 

 

“I- I need to get some things off my chest. I- uh, you see. Jenny’s got me doing this op,” Tony cringed at the wording, but continued anyway. “She’s got me seducing a local doctor by the name of Jeanne Benoit.”

 

“Why?”

 

“La Grenouille.”


	19. Mann Returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Plot, it's a comin'.

It was the week after the case with the killer Humvee that Tony finally managed to find time to have lunch with both Luna and Malfoy. He sat down at the table in the coffee shop, sipping at his usual Hazelnut flavored coffee and stared down at the cup as if it held the secrets of the universe.  _ Luna and Malfoy? Working together?  _ There were so many things wrong with the thought, that Tony had trouble wrapping his head around it. 

 

He was so lost in thought that he nearly didn’t hear the bell ring for the coffee shop, but he looked up to see the two blondes in question walking in, Draco now actually looked like Draco instead of Engler Torsten. He took another drink of his coffee for strength and wished that it had alcohol in it. 

 

“Potter,” Malfoy greeted quietly as he sat down and Luna cast multiple privacy charms around them. 

 

“Malfoy,” the name awkward on his tongue after so many years of not even thinking of his school nemesis, not to mention the lack of an English accent.

 

“Boys,” Luna admonished.

 

“Sorry,” they both said at the same time, Tony shot a look of confusion at Draco. 

 

“Now, Draco, we’ve talked about this, his name is Tony now, or do I have to have another talk with-”

 

“No! No, that won’t be necessary.” Tony raised his eyebrow at the panicked look Drago gave Luna.

 

Luna smiled serenely at them, “now, Tony, I’m sure you have quite a few questions?”

 

“Uh, yeah. First off you two are friends, now?” 

 

Draco looked away as if embarrassed, Luna just smiled, “I started contacting him when I noticed certain things going on in the world. Besides, he felt he owed me after my visit to his home.”

 

“What things did you notice?” Tony looked between them curiously, pointedly not talking about the time that Luna had basically been tortured at Malfoy Manor.  _ Then again, if anyone could make friends with a former captor, Luna would.  _

 

Draco sighed, “things have been heating up in England again.”

 

“A new Dark Lord?”

 

Draco winced before nodding and muttering under his breath, “more like a new Dark Lady.” 

 

Tony raised an eyebrow at Draco before Luna elbowed the blonde in the side, “My father’s sister, my Aunt Eris. She, well she, she’s been supporting various terrorist organizations. She’s been gathering agents from all over the world and placing them in strategic positions to increase Terrorism. Everywhere.”

 

“Terrorism has always been-”

 

“But it’s been getting worse, Potter, Al Qaeda leaders are unable to be found despite even magical means. More and more moles keep being found in top secret agencies around the world. It’s been subtle so no one’s noticed it. She’s using Muggles to kill Muggles.”

 

“What’s really concerning is we don’t know why. She’s not big on making grand scale battle like Voldemort was,” Luna informed him.

 

“What, and you’re the only one who noticed all this?” Tony raised an incredulous eyebrow in Malfoy’s direction, seriously doubting his investigative abilities. Even if the suspect was his own aunt. 

 

“Actually, Tony, I noticed it. Draco came to me and we both pooled together our information,” Luna’s smile turned to a scathing look and Tony lowered his head, cowed.

 

“What about Ron and Hermione?”   
  


“They’ve been too busy looking for you, Potter.” Draco rolled his eyes at Tony’s question.

 

Luna sighed, “they refuse to believe that you disappeared of your own volition. They also refuse to believe us, partially because it’s Draco that’s telling them about all of this.”

 

“Then by the time I mention that it’s my aunt, Weasel starts yelling at me to go join her,” Draco looked defeatedly at the table before them. 

 

Tony looked thoughtfully at them both and nodded for Luna to leave to get some coffee for them. Once Luna left, he turned to Draco, “what’s your plan?”

 

Draco’s eyes snapped up in shock, “you believe us?”

 

Tony shrugged, “why else would you be undercover as a scientist in the company vying for a contract with the DOD?”

 

Draco started chuckling nervously, “yeah, I guess your team has the highest success rate for a reason. The plan is for me to develop technologies blended with magic to combat terrorism. Luna’s job is to infiltrate the US Alphabet agencies and bring in their technology experts to work against Eris, without them knowing they’re against Eris. Viktor joined the Spetsnaz. Fred and George have been setting up bases for us all over the world in the form of their shop. Charlie is still in Romania with the dragons, but he’s been recruiting heavily for our side.”

 

Tony shot Draco a look, “She’s been recruiting as well. We don’t know who, but there are those in the Ministry in England that are keeping the public face focused on you. We’ve been trying to recruit from all over the world, we’ve started to gain allies in a number of agencies, so it’s like we’re putting our own moles into agencies all over the world.”

 

“How are you selling this to the Mundanes?”

 

“She’s a terrorist,” Draco leaned back in his chair with a weary look on is face, “since it’s not too far from the truth, the Mundanes are all for it. Our problem is convincing magical authorities.”

 

Tony looked thoughtful for a bit, “You want me to convince them.” He looked to Luna as she came back and sat back down, “you want me to come back to the magical world and tell them about Eris.”

 

“Yes,” Draco said seriously.

 

Tony shook his head, “won’t do any good. I’ve been gone for too long, I don’t know the political climate, nor do I have any desire to know. You find Eris and I’ll be more than happy to fight her. I’ll help you gather information and evidence about her, but I’m not coming back into the limelight of the Magical Community.”

 

“Potter-” Draco started to plead with him.

 

Luna placed a hand on Draco’s arm, “we understand, Tony. Thank you for agreeing to help us. Let us know if you find anything, she’s subtle so it may be a while before you find even a hint.” 

 

Luna nodded her farewell and practically dragged Draco from the table. They were nearly out the door before Tony caught up with them, “how do you two interact with technology without blowing it out? I can’t tell you how many phones I’ve exploded on a bad day.” 

 

Draco started chuckling, Luna’s serene smile came back, “come, we’ll show you.” 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Apparently the solution was a tattoo with runes first tattooed in the outline in magical ink that Luna had worked on with a guy named Mick Gallagher, then Mick cast a spell over the runes and tattooed over the runes to hide the obvious signs of magic. It was quite a feat of magic, potions, rune work and spells all working together, but the result was rather beautiful.

 

Tony sighed as he had filled out the paperwork at HR so that they would know about identifying features on his body. He had gotten a few leering looks from the ladies as he had had to drop his pants so they could take a picture of the beautiful artwork that encompassed his thigh. 

 

He made it up to the bullpen as Gibbs was telling the team to grab their gear, they had a case.

 

***

Apparently some street lights had gone crazy and when city workers had gone down to see what had happened, they found a dead marine and thus NCIS was called in. Gibbs was climbing down the ladder as McGee filled in the bossman. 

 

“City engineers traced the disturbance to an underground power node. Backtraced the source, they found this.” 

 

Tony was busy taking crime scene photos as the door swung open, “hey boss. Meet Marine Officer Major John Maguire. At least that’s what his ID says. It’s hard to tell with the, uh-”  _ Mad-eye missing eye. _ “You know, the one eye.” 

 

“Yeah, where’s the missing one?” 

 

“Was just wondering that myself, boss. Major worked under Marine Corps Systems command, was liaison to the civilian sector for NBC preparedness.” Tony looked to Tim curiously, wondering if the Probie knew what it meant.

 

Tim got a thoughtful look, “nuclear, biological, and chemical.” 

 

“Very good. I’m proud of you, like an older brother, Probie. Hey boss, you may have already noticed, but the door-”

 

“Locks from the outside,” Gibbs raised an eyebrow as if to say  _ duh, DiNozzo. _

 

“Meaning someone else locked him down here,” McGee deduced. 

 

“Yeah, you really want to impress me, McGee? Tell me why,” Gibbs looked to McGee who shrugged helplessly. “Did he know where is SOS was going?” 

 

“Not a chance. Shorting the power box was clever, but a shot in the dark. Lucky it worked at all,” McGee nodded to the power box. 

 

“And that someone was able to figure it out,” Ziva sighed.

 

“That’s precisely why SOS was chosen, ‘cause it was so very recognizable. Dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot. Unlike the old signal, which was CQD, come quick distress.” 

 

Ziva chuckled at Ducky’s story as Gibbs leaned over to her, “just the SOS?”

 

“That’s all he sent,” Ziva confirmed. 

 

“Morse code is a dying art.” Tim commented. Tony gave a thoughtful look to Tim and wondered how he would feel if he found out about Luna and her real reason for being in America. 

 

“Was for him,” Ziva quipped back. 

 

Tony shook his head to clear his thoughts, sarcasm filling the shifting in his head, “well he could have sent a longer message, but nobody would have recognised it.” Gibbs gave Tony a pointed look, “present company excepted.” He quickly fixed. 

 

“Cause of death?” Gibbs turned his attention from Tony to Ducky. 

 

“Well, he didn’t suffocate. There are no signs of cyanosis to indicate oxygen deprivation. No petechial hemorrhages that would indicate strangulation, there’s no blunt or sharp force trauma; in fact, there’s no sign of any trauma at all.” Tony watched as Ziva turned on her flashlight and searched through the room during Ducky’s explanation.

 

“Other than the missing eye,” Tim corrected Ducky’s statement of ‘no trauma.”

 

“That would explain his death, Timothy,” Ducky sighed exasperatedly. 

 

Tony had already seen the destroyed fingers and knew that Gibbs would ask where all the blood came from. He had seen the blood on the walls and Tony knew what had happened, the man had been poisoned and had hallucinated before his death. There were a number of potions that could cause these effects and hoped that this man’s death had nothing to do with Eris Malfoy. 

 

“Hmm, that’s odd, 99.1,” Ducky hummed questioningly, “It appears our corpse is running a slight fever.”

 

“What happened down here,” Tim asked aloud. 

 

“Whatever happened, someone wanted to watch.” Ziva had walked over to a corner and was taking a picture of a wireless camera that had been resting on a pipe. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Though the idea of the artificial eye was centuries old, it didn’t really take off until the early 20th century. A group of Germans toured the United States custom- fitting glass eyes to those who needed them. Yes, which would’ve included you, Major, had you still been alive.”  

 

Tony and Gibbs walk into autopsy.

 

“Sadly, the outbreak of war led to shortages, resulting in ill-fitting eyeballs which had a tendency to pop out during rigorous interpersonal activity.”

 

“Such as?” Tony asks.

 

“I leave that to your imagination, Tony. But I do have a cause of death.”  Ducky dries his hands.

 

“I was hoping there was a reason you called me down here, Ducky.” Gibbs walks behind Tony.

 

“Yes, the Major’s death occurred as a result of acute organ failure brought about by hyperthermia.”

 

“It wasn’t that cold down there,” Tony intentionally messed it up to get Gibbs to focus on him and not have Ducky and Gibbs fighting again. 

 

“No. Hyperthermia, not hypo.” Ducky scolds Tony and makes eye contact and tells him he doesn’t need to run interference between them, they aren’t like the Dursley’s. Tony freezes a bit at the confirmation that Ducky knew Tony was Harry. “His body literally became too hot to handle.”

 

“Wasn’t that warm down there,” Gibbs, mirroring Tony. 

 

“No, indeed it wasn’t, but the hyperthermia would explain the elevated body temperature I found at the crime scene. One mystery solved. Unfortunately, the Major does not appear to suffer from any of the risk factors involved in heatstroke,” Ducky looked to the body on his table, perplexed. 

 

Gibbs shrugged, “well, he still managed to die from it.”

 

“Yes, indeed he did. You know, certain medications can interfere with the body’s cooling processes, but we’ll have to wait for Abby’s toxicology report to see if that is a factor,” Ducky waved around his paper copy of his autopsy report before handing it over to Gibbs. 

 

Tony kept looking at the eye and thinking of Moody. “Too bad, I can’t call you Mad-Eye, huh?” He quietly asked the corpse, he glanced up to see Gibbs looking at him with a curious eyebrow raised, and Ducky silently admonishing him while holding back his own smirk. “Sorry, guy I knew back when I was in school, he was one of my teachers actually. He was missing an eye, real hard ass too. Constant Vigilance!”

 

“Constant Vigilance!” Ducky said at the same time as Tony before they smiled at each other.  _ Never knew the Duck man knew Mad-Eye. _

 

The moment over, Ducky continued on his report as Gibbs rolled his eyes at them, “This wound, unlike our dear Mad-Eye, was self inflicted.”

 

That got Gibbs’ attention, “are you saying that he-”

 

“He tore out his own eyeball. I found traces of vitreous fluid under his fingernails,” Ducky used a long stemmed tool to lift the hand in question.”

 

Tony’s face scrunched up in disgust as a thought occurred to him, “we didn’t find the eyeball at the crime scene, the door was shut from the outside. He ate his own eyeball didn’t he?”

 

Ducky nodded confirmation and Tony closed his eyes and turned away in disgust, so he didn’t see the impressed look that Gibbs had shot Tony’s way.

 

“You didn’t find a toe in there, too, did you Duck?” Gibbs asked sarcastically and Tony’s eyes snapped open to Gibbs.  _ Did he just make a joke to make me feel better? _

 

Gibbs nodded and made his way out of Autopsy, most likely headed for Abby’s lab. Tony stuck around to ask Ducky about magical means. Ducky pulled out his distinctly red wand and waved it over the body. “No potions were used on him. Though there are a number of them that could cause hyperthermia and madness enough to eat one’s own eyeball. I’m afraid this poor fellow was killed by Mundane means.” 

 

“Thanks Duck.” Tony turned to leave before he had another thought, “hey, do you know a guy by the name of Gallagher?”

 

“No, I’m afraid I haven’t heard of him.” Ducky looked to Tony expectantly. Tony just smiled.

 

“Go to him, tell him Tony and Luna sent you and he’ll explain his magical tattoos.”

 

Ducky’s look turned thoughtful, “I would think that with all the technology you’re around, that you wouldn’t do something as foolish as get a magical tattoo my boy.”

 

“Yes and no, Luna and Mick fixed the problem. I would show you mine, but I’d have to take off my pants.” Tony winked teasingly at Ducky.

 

“Then why haven’t I heard about this,” Ducky looked sceptical. 

 

Tony took a deep breath, “‘cause Luna and Mick are saving it right now for wizards that are working together against world-wide terrorism being supported by a witch and her following.”

 

“Oh?” 

 

“Yeah, her name’s Eris Malfoy.” Ducky’s eyes lit in recognition. “You know her?”

 

“Oh yes, I went to school with her. Swear she ran Slytherin house from day one. She and Minerva held quite the rivalry. She was always ambitious, but I can’t imagine-”

 

“She’s helping terrorists and arms dealers, for some reason she’s trying to kill off muggles by using muggles,” Tony told Ducky; seriously. 

 

“I can tell you why,” Ducky sat down at his desk. He took off his bowtie and suddenly the man looked years younger. Tony nodded in recognition. Can’t spend time in the muggle world and not age for too long. It was a stark reminder that unless Tony was willing to wear something everyday, he would have to leave. “During her third year she started classes that would lead her to being a healer. She was dissatisfied with the details of what medi-witches knew about basic anatomy. It was more or less let the magic flow where it needs to and which potions to give to what ailment.”

 

Ducky sat back in his chair before he continued, “During our sixth year, I started studying muggle anatomy books with her. You see, I had a similar want to learn the human anatomy. It was then she decided to go to school in the Muggle world after that and she kept in touch with me. I have the letters, I’ll have you and Luna come by and read them.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs walked into Abby’s lab to find her at her computer in her office. He continued his leisurely pace through her labadn when he got to her desk, she jumped up and crushed him into a familiar hug. “Gibbs! Thank God you’re here.”

 

He automatically wrapped his arms around her before she pulled back and smiled at him, “I really need your help. You’ve gotta stop me from doing something stupid. I’m thinking about getting a tattoo.” He gave her a look and she turned back to her computer. “All these tattoos. You know, I get really nervous ‘cause it’s such a final decision. Maybe I should ask Tony, you know he recently got a tattoo.” 

 

_ Wait, what? _ Gibbs blinked at her screen as she continued her rambling. 

 

“Should I go with something a little esoteric or… I don’t know, maybe a little Eastern. Ah, Ganesh. The Hindu god of wisdom for me, the wise one. What do you think?”

 

Still reeling from the fact that Tony got a tattoo, Gibbs chuckled a little, “I don’t think I’m the one to ask about this.”

 

She looked to him seriously, “but Gibbs, you know me better than anyone else and when you’re gonna make a decision that’s gonna affect the rest of your life, you need the person around you that knows you best for guidance. Please?”

 

Gibbs glanced between Abby and the computer screen, “where do you want to put the tattoo?”

 

Her smile slowly faded as she thought about his question and he saw a blush work it’s way up, “okay, you’re right. You’re not the one to ask.” She got up from her computer. “Toxicology report. I heard about Ducky’s unexplained hyperthermia. I can explain it. I found traces of three quinuclidinyl benzilate in Major Maguire’s blood. NATO calls it BZ gas. We call it Agent Buzz. It’s an incapacitating agent that causes hyperthermia, severe hallucinations and, in large enough doses, death. It’s a chemical weapon, Gibbs.” 

 

“Whose?” 

 

“It’s hard to tell. Chemical weapons are banned, but they’re still allowed for research purposes. Even by our own government.”

 

“Can you tell which lab it came from?”

 

“No. But I do have a lead. The camera that you pulled from the sewer is Wi-Fi based. It works by piggy-backing on local unprotected networks. Once it’s on the Internet, it can be routed anywhere at will. And it makes it totally untraceable.”

 

“But you traced it anyway,” a hint of pride in his voice at the obvious way Abby was acting that she had traced it. She confirmed with a smile and a nod. “Let me know when you-”

 

“I got an address.” 

 

Gibbs made his way out of the lab, “yep.”

 

“No, I mean, I  _ got _ an address. The killer watched the Major die from a bowling alley, 19 Bella Street. Of course, whoever was there-” 

 

Gibbs didn’t hear the rest as he bolted from her lab and headed up to the Bullpen to bark for his team to “Gear up!”

 

***

They pulled up to the bowling alley and Gibbs’ gaze ran across the sign advertising ‘free internet access’. A glance in his mirror showed that Tony was rather relaxed, he noticed that this was odd, before anytime they were around technology, Tony tensed and flinched every so often.  _ Maybe I should ask Tony, you know he recently got a tattoo.  _

 

_ Maybe the tattoo helps his magic to not interfere with technology? _

 

_ If that’s the case, why didn’t he know about it before? I’ve seen Palmer go into Abby’s lab without wincing?  _

 

Gibbs was pulled from his thoughts when Tony teased McGee, “I got a bad feeling about this. We let the elf lord go in, we may never get him out.” 

 

“Getting old, Tony. Maybe you should ask Luna for some new material,” McGee grinned back. 

 

“Tony, you and Ziva take the back. Elf Lord, you’re with me.” Gibbs led the way through the main entrance and scowled when McGee stopped to admire the gamers behind the half-wall that divided the entrance. His scowl deepened when he noticed that noone was around.

 

“Wonder where everyone is,” McGee said aloud. Gibbs continued his silent way through the bowling alley, towards the back room. His gut squirmed uncomfortably and he was instantly on high alert. 

 

Gibbs held his wrist up to his mouth, “talk to me, Tony.”

 

“Rear service entrance clear, standing by, boss.” Despite the familiar title, the churning in his gut didn’t ease, though he was comforted by the title. He slowly approached the door that he heard talking from and saw that it wasn’t closed all the way. 

 

“Look, we can do this nice and easy or not so nice and easy. Come on, man!” One man had his hand on another man’s shoulder as the ‘victim’ sat in his office chair. 

 

“Start talking,” a third man spoke and Gibbs changed his angle and saw a gun strapped to the third man’s hip. He silently signaled to McGee that there were two armed men in the room before he burst into the room. 

 

“Federal Agents! Drop your Weapons!” McGee announced.

 

Just then another door opened and someone, not Tony, burst through yelling, “Federal Agents!” 

 

“NCIS, drop your weapons,” Tony burst through the door. They were about to start a loud mexican standoff as they all pointed their weapons at each other, until a familiar voice cut through the chaos. 

 

“How about we  _ all _ drop our weapons? Since clearly we’re all on the same team.”  _ Shit, the coyote is back. _

 

***

“Mamoun Sharif. CID was able to trace an old lead from when Sharif was working as a paid informant for the CIA. The trail led to an alias which led to a credit card.” Hollis Mann clicked through the information on the plasma with an ease that twisted Gibbs’ gut. 

 

_ Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get the message, don’t trust the coyote.  _

 

“Which led to a bowling alley,” Gibbs finished her summary of her side of the investigation. 

 

“Yep, funny, us running into each other like that.” 

 

“Funny?”  _ Yeah, it’s fucking hilarious. _

 

“You have a better word?” she raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. 

 

_ Shit luck, unwanted, wish you would leave.  _ “A few come to mind.” Gibbs chuckled at the end to hide the animosity in his mind. 

 

“So the real question: are our cases connected?” 

 

Just then a familiar and more welcome voice approached, “as connected as McGee and his cute, little writing pipe. The prints on the computer that was used to monitor the sewer match the prints on file from Sharif’s CIA report. The Mad Bomber is back.”

 

“Except he’s not using bombs this time,” Ziva corrected.

 

“So where did he get the BZ gas?” Mann asked of his team. Gibbs leaned over his desk so she wouldn’t see the non-verbal growl that threatened to break free from his throat. 

 

“One of the Major’s duties was to deliver small quantities of weapons-grade gases to civilian research labs,” Tony said as he was getting his coat on.    
  


Gibbs hid his smile at his team already moving into action before orders are given, “Ziva, you and Tony-”

 

“Run down the list of the Major’s deliveries, starting with the most recent,” Ziva completed his order as she got her own coat. 

 

“And find out-”

 

“If any of them were BZ gas. On it, boss.” Tony quickly spouted off. 

 

He felt Mann nearing him, “they always finish your sentences for you?”

 

“I teach them to anticipate,” he gave her a carefully blank look while some inner part of him preened that his team was far better than hers. 

 

“Well, they do it well. You must be a good teacher.” 

 

He inwardly sighed, realizing that he was having to flirt with the coyote again in order to get what he wants. In this case, what he wants is, Sharif. He mimicked Elvis as he smirked, “well, thank you very much.” 

 

She started chuckling and he nearly groaned as he realized that he would have to laugh too. Then McGee saved him, “uh, boss, if Sharif was trying to cover his tracks, why would he go to all this trouble, just to kill Major Maguire?”

 

“It does seem unusual that Sharif would have wasted the BZ gas the way he did,” Mann turned back to the Plasma with him. 

 

He stared out at the crime scene photo and thought about the camera in the sewers, “he wasn’t wasting it. He was testing it.” 

 

Gibbs led the way to tell Jenny about the threat that Sharif posed.  _ Go figure,  _ Jenny wasn’t happy.  _ Homeland Security certainly loves non-specific threats. _ However, if there was one thing that meeting had told him that was mildly useful, was that Jenny still had feelings for him. So did Mann.

 

Then he got a call from Tony telling him that 10 Kilograms of BZ gas were missing. Gibbs led the way to Abby’s lab as fast as he could after that. He wanted to growl at the program on Abby’s computer making a rendition of what a child could look like between him and Mann.  _ Really Abby?  _ After that McGee and Abby told them that they hadn’t found a connection between Sharif and Major Maguire, but they had found the video that Sharif had watched. 

 

He stalked back up to the bullpen and found out that his team hadn’t found anything useful other than the amount of BZ gas missing. When Tony had jovially called for a ‘campfire’ he grabbed his coat and left, intending to head to his basement to think. 

 

He was peacefully drilling a hole when Mann came knocking on his door, “I thought you’d like to know that Sharif made it to the top of every agency’s Most Wanted list. Homeland Security’s all over it. Where’s your boat?” 

 

“Well, had to move it to make some room.”

 

“Yeah, but-”

 

“They’re covering their asses.”

 

“But where-” Mann continued to be flabbergasted at his ‘missing’ boat. 

 

“Gonna take them days to do anything.”

 

“Yeah, well they want a briefing. Chemical weapons are notoriously difficult to deal with, and ten kilograms is a large amount. It could be a land-based attack.” Mann continued to circle his basement.

 

“Or worse, something else we haven’t thought of yet.”

 

“Well, that’s what I’m here for.”

 

“Is it?” he was too tired to keep the light growl out of his voice just then. 

 

“You say that like you were expecting something else. Or is it hoping?”  _ That’s one way to interpret that. _

 

“What cha got in the bag?” 

 

She smiled an admittedly charming smile, “dinner.”

 

_ I ain’t gonna turn down free food. _ “Why don’t we start with that?” 

 

“So maybe Sharif is just gonna sell the BZ.” She began.  _ No, that doesn’t feel right. _

 

“He’s not.”

 

“And you’re so sure of that because…?”

 

“His eyes.”  _ and my gut. _

 

“His eyes?” 

 

“He doesn’t want the money. He wants to kill.”  _ I remember the look in the mirror after my girls died. Sharif has the same look. That’s why there’s no uptick in chatter when he does shit, he doesn’t want to brag. He wants to kill those responsible for taking away those most important to him. _

 

“Who? Sharif’s sold himself out to the highest bidder his whole life, no matter what side they were on. I mean, what’s changed?” 

 

“People get older. Realize they want something different,” Gibbs turned away from her and stared hard at the locked footlocker underneath his stairs. 

 

“And you can tell this just by looking into someone’s eyes?” By her question he knew that she wanted him to look at her, so, with great reluctance he turned away from his stairs and looked at her. 

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Okay,” she turned to face him fully. “What do you see in my eyes?” 

 

_ All too easy. _ “That you want me to kiss you.” 

 

“So are you going to?” 

 

_ Now I’m in a pickle, if I say no like I want, then she’s closed off and useless in finding Sharif. But if I say yes, then I feel like something bad will happen with Nathair. Sorry, Nathiar, next dream I’ll explain everything about Mann, I swear it.  _

 

“Yeah,” he kept his voice and body even, even though it felt as if his body had been dunked in ice as a chill settled over him. 

 

“When?” 

 

“After we catch...Sharif,” internally, he tried to focus on the icy feeling in his veins, but only got a feeling that Nathair needed him. 

 

“That’s probably a good idea.” 

 

“Really?” Gibbs was genuinely surprised that she had been agreeable to the idea of waiting, maybe by the end of this he could figure out a way to get out of this situation. “‘Cause I was hoping you would think that.”   
  


“No, no, it’s a good idea. I’d better go before I change my mind.” She quickly gathered her things and was almost out the door when she called back, “uh, you know, we’re a distraction to your team. We can’t have anything interfering with finding Sharif.” 

 

“Agreed,” was all he said as she left his house. Just as she was leaving his phone rang. 

 

On automatic, he unscrewed one of his jars and pulled out the phone and answered in his customary, “Gibbs.”

 

“Hello, Agent Gibbs,” the voice of Sharif met him and Gibbs’ eyes widened. 

 

“What do you want, Sharif?”  _ Only reason he’s calling is to taunt something. _

 

“No pleasantries? That’s not very friendly Agent Gibbs.”

 

“You want friendly? Front door’s open. Bring coffee.”  _ Yeah, that way I can shoot you in the face. _

 

“I tried to, but for some reason I could never find your house. So, instead I thought I would visit your team instead, your Agent DiNozzo’s apartment is quite lovely. However, you are not still talking with me to hear about Anthony’s apartment. I know you are aware I have almost ten kilograms of BZ gas in my possession.” 

 

Gibbs stayed silent, seething that DiNozzo was being threatened. Already heading up the stairs and out the door to his truck. “I wasn’t expecting applause, but I was hoping for a little bit more.”

 

“What do you want?” 

 

“The United States government is holding six alleged members of a Chechen separatist group in a secret prison in Afghanistan. I want them released within the next 24 hours.”

 

“Cut the shit. You know that’s not going to happen, and you don’t care about them,” Gibbs growled into his phone as he raced through the streets of Washington to get to Tony’s place.

 

“Agent Gibbs! I’m hurt, of course I care about my brothers rotting away in prison. Besides, we are not negotiating for their release, either you release those men, or I will release more of the BZ gas.”

 

“More?” The icy feeling running through his body made a whole lot more sense now. 

 

“It’s hard to say how many have been exposed. Airborne weaponry is a tricky business, but I’m sure the 11:00 news will have a pretty good figure by now.” He pinned the phone between his ear and his shoulder and deftly used his newly freed hand to turn on the radio. 

 

“Authorities are not certain what is causing the illness. There are no fatalities as of yet, but at least six people have fallen sick.”

 

“Actually, counting your Agent DiNozzo, that makes seven.” Sharif hung up and Gibbs resisted the urge to throw his phone across the cab and instead pushed his truck to move faster. 

 

He arrived and didn’t care how he parked, as he ran up the stairs to Tony’s apartment, he called McGee, “get everyone back to HQ and have Ducky test for BZ gas.” 

 

He hung up the phone and approached Tony’s door at the end of the hallway. As he got closer he heard a piano being played. It was being played so beautifully and the longing he heard in the song matched the longing he had for Nathair, it made him want to weep.

 

_ Been running from these feelings for so long _

_ Telling my heart I didn't need you _

_ Pretending I was better off alone _

_ But I know that it's just a lie _

_ So afraid to take a chance again _

_ So afraid of what I feel inside _

_ But I need to be next to you _

 

Gibbs stood outside Tony’s door for a second, frozen.  _ I didn’t know Tony could play. _ Gibbs stood there for a minute and wondered who Tony could be singing about. 

 

_ Oh I, oh I _

_ I need to share every breath with you _

_ Oh I, oh I _

_ I need to know I can see your smile each morning _

_ Look into your eyes each night _

_ For the rest of my life _

_ Here with you near with you _

_ Oh I, I need to be next to you _

 

Then he heard a voice, a voice from inside the apartment, that wasn’t Tony. “Why not just tell him, Harry?”  _ Harry? Who the fuck is Harry. _ Tony continued singing as if the voice with a british accent hadn’t spoken.

 

_ Right here with you is where I belong _

_ I'll lose my mind if I can't see you _

_ Without you there is nothing in this life _

_ That would make life worth living for _

_ I can't bear the thought of you not there _

_ I can't fight what I feel anymore _

_ But I need to be next to you _

 

“Harry-”

 

“Shut it Tonks, just enjoy the concert and let the Prongslet work through his emotions, maybe it’ll help him find Sharif like he wants, but that won’t happen if you keep talking.”

 

“No need to get testy, cousin.”

 

Tony’s voice increased in volume as if to drown out his guests’ talking.

 

_ Oh I, oh I _

_ I need to share every breath with you _

_ Oh I, oh I _

_ I need to know I can see your smile each morning _

_ Look into your eyes each night _

_ For the rest of my life _

_ Here with you near with you _

_ Oh I, I need to be next to you _

_ Oh I, I need to be next to you _

_ I need to have your heart next to mine _

 

_ For all time _

_ Love you for all of my life _

_ But I need to be next to you _

 

_ Oh I, oh I _

_ I need to share every breath with you _

_ Oh I, oh I _

 

_ I need to know I can see your smile each morning _

_ Look into your eyes each night _

_ For the rest of my life _

_ Here with you near with you _

_ Oh I, I need to be next to you _

 

Finally as the song ended, Gibbs remembered his urgency in coming and knocked harshly on the door. There was a clash of musical notes as Tony fumbled the end of the song. 

 

“Who is it?” 

 

“It’s Gibbs, open up!”

 

Tony opened the door and what Gibbs saw, or rather didn’t see, confused him. He was sure he had heard other people talking in here. When he glanced into the kitchen he could have sworn he saw the outline of three people sitting at the table, but when he took a second look, they were gone. 

 

“Gibbs, boss, what’s going on? Did you find Sharif?”   
  


“No, but he apparently found you.” Tony looked confused for a moment before he paled and rushed over to his front door and knelt on the floor. 

 

An inappropriate image popped into Gibbs’ head of Nathair on his knees before him and his cock twitched in interest at his thoughts before he roughly pushed it away and forcibly moved his eyes away from admiring Tony’s ass as it stuck up in the air. 

 

Finally Tony sat back on his feet, still kneeling on the floor, “Shit. The wards have deteriorated. Guess I’ve had my brain going in too many directions lately.”

 

“Wards?”

 

“Yeah, basically protective spells centered around a specific place. Some wards make it so that anyone intending harm to the people that live there, won’t find the place. Some wards attack the attackers, some-”

 

“You put wards around my house?” Gibbs growled. He wasn’t angry about the wards around his home, he was angry that Tony had let his own wards slack because of it.

 

“Yeah,” Tony turned his gaze to the floor as he knelt. “I, uh, I had to make sure you were safe, boss.”

 

Though Tony wasn’t facing him, he knew that Tony had a look of trepidation and worry on his face. He slowly moved forward, and stood at Tony’s back. Despite the ice that still fill his veins, he felt a sense of  _ Right _ as he stood behind Tony as he knelt before him. Gibbs shook himself. 

 

“Come on, let’s get you checked out by Ducky. Sharif called me earlier and said he had dosed you with BZ gas.”

 

There was a nod and Gibbs tried really hard not to pay attention to the fluid grace with which Tony rose to his feet. Again his cock twitched and Gibbs mouth went dry at the reminder of Nathair. 

 

***

Ducky insisted on testing Gibbs as well, but he had a feeling that Ducky wouldn’t find anything. Ducky went over and opened the doors to Autopsy to let Abby and Ziva in. “Is he going crazy?”   
  


“No crazier than usual,” Ducky smiled at Abby. “I didn’t find any trace of BZ gas in either of them. Sharif appears to be bluffing. You’re welcome to, uh-” Ducky was cut off as Abby ran into Autopsy and hugged Tony tightly.

 

“You are not going to lose your mind, Tony. You’re okay,” she snuggled into his shoulder and Tony smiled before patting her back and comfortingly rocking her back and forth. 

 

“I’m okay, too,” Gibbs smiled over at Abby teasingly. She then pried herself away from Tony and launched herself at him as well. 

 

Ziva then began her report, “no fatalities at the hospital. The dose was too low. They’re reporting it as food poisoning. But the word is already beginning to leak out.”

 

“How did Sharif deliver the BZ?” Gibbs led the group to the elevator. 

 

“I can’t tell yet,” Abby said in a frustrated tone. “The pattern of illness appears to be random.” 

 

“We’re still trying to find a link between Sharif and the Chechen rebels,” Ziva continued the update. 

 

“You won’t find one,” Gibbs sighed. “He’s trying to distract us.”

 

“From what?” Abby asked. 

 

Gibbs shrugged, “I don’t know.”

 

“What’s McGeek up to?” Tony, while on the surface sounding cheerful and teasing, Gibbs heard the underlying worry and anxiety. 

 

“He’s still trying to find a connection between the Major and Sharif as well as finding a connection to the victims,” Ziva reported. 

 

The elevator doors opened and McGee was right there and almost walked into Gibbs, “Going somewhere, McGee?”

 

“Actually, looking for you, boss. Might have found a connection between Sharif’s victims. Neighbors reported seeing the same truck outside two of the houses.” Gibbs turned the corner to the bullpen and saw that Hollis Mann had taken up use of his computer. He saw a flicker of anger cross Tony’s face before it was hidden and he stalked over to his desk and began typing. 

 

“Not enough of a plate for a BOLO, all we got was a red truck with some kind of logo,” Mann told them all as she stood from Gibbs’ desk and smoothly slid out of it as Gibbs slid in. 

 

“Ziva, you and Tony find out if anyone else saw the truck,” Gibbs looked over to Tony’s desk and saw that he was blinking rapidly and suddenly jerked back away from his desk. 

 

“Tony?” Abby asked cautiously.

 

“Just a fly flying into my face, no big deal,” Tony shook it off and picked up his phone to begin calling around. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There was no way that Tony had seen what he had just thought he had seen, no possible way. It had only been for a moment, but he could have sworn that he had seen an Acromantula clinging to the wall by the elevator. Then it had suddenly leaped at him and it was gone. His heart raced at the implications of such a vision.

 

He hadn’t seen the video, but he knew BZ gas produced hallucinations,  _ but they can’t be starting this soon, can they.  _ He purposely dropped a pen and sent a quick patronus to Luna to see if she knew how BZ gas affected wizards. He watched as his snake patronus glided across the floor and out of the squadroom. 

 

Tony’s patronus had changed from a Stag to a snake shortly after his self-imposed exile. Once that had happened he had done quite a bit of research and apparently after a great emotional upheaval Patronus’ have been known to change. He looked around the bullpen to see Gibbs watching where his snake patronus had just gone with a very intense look. 

 

Gibbs’ eyes moved from the floor to Tony, asking a silent question.  _ What the hell was that? _

 

_ Apparently Gibbs could see my patronus. _ Tony glanced over to see McGee absorbed in his computer and Ziva was busy on the phone. Abby had disappeared back down to her lab and Mann was at the desk behind Gibbs’. 

 

‘Later,’ he mouthed to Gibbs. He then heard Ziva hang up her phone, apparently she had found the company that was on the logo of the red truck. 

 

***

The company hadn’t known that one of their trucks was missing till he and Ziva had shown up and started asking questions.  _ Shitty and stupid management. _ Tony tuned out the road as Ziva whizzed through traffic. As they pulled away from a stop sign, his mind suddenly went down a path he hadn’t decided. 

 

He was four years old, in the back of his uncle’s car on his way to Mrs. Figg’s, he hadn’t eaten yet and hadn’t yet learned that crying wasn’t how you got anything in the Dursley household, unless you were Dudley. His heart hammered in his chest as he remembered his uncle’s meaty hand reaching into the backseat to backhand him into shutting up. 

 

Back in reality he had flinched down into his seat and instinctively curled into a ball. Ziva quickly pulled over and tried to see what was wrong with Tony. “Tony? Tony! What’s wrong? Tony?”

 

Ziva’s voice cut through the fog of memory and he took a few deep breaths as he remembered that he wasn’t even in the same country as that man. “I’m fine, Ziva. Sorry.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Nothing, just get us back to HQ, please.”  _ Get me back to Gibbs. I think the BZ gas is affecting me, despite Ducky giving me the all clear.  _

 

***

Tony stood in the Observation room as McGee teased Ziva, “so this is the guy Ziva was drooling over.”

 

“I wasn’t drooling,” she quickly defended. 

 

Tony was too tired to join in on the banter, he had snuck away to the bathroom when he had seen Luna’s patronus. Apparently BZ gas mixed with DMSO makes it go straight to the blood stream where it mixes with the magic in the system and thus makes magical folk more susceptible to it. The magic accelerates the BZ in order to burn through the chemical faster, it’s how a Wizard’s immune system works to combat Mundane illness, such as the flu.  

 

Just then Gibbs and Mann walked into Interrogation, and the first predictable words from the man’s mouth were, “I want a lawyer.”

 

Tony didn’t even have the energy to joke about terrorists not getting lawyers. “Tony, are you okay?” McGee turned to him.

 

“I’m fine, McGee.” Tony raised an arm and leaned against the frame of the two-way mirror. 

 

Gibbs however, began his interrogation, “why? You done something wrong?”

 

“I’m admitting to nothing.”

 

“You don’t need to,” Mann came up and sat in the chair opposite their suspect while Gibbs sat on the table. “We already know you wired $20,000 to Major Maguire. What we don’t know is why.”

 

“I’m gonna make this real simple for you. No lawyer, no trial.”

 

“Just a room like this until you talk. That’s the way it works for terrorists.”

 

Mann’s words struck Tony and his mind betrayed him once more. He was fourteen again and in a graveyard surrounded by enemies. There was no one to save him, no one to have his six, no Gibbs. His breathing hitched and he grit his teeth. He could practically feel the Crucio that Riddle had cast at him, he remained standing through sheer will, though his heart hammered away in his chest. 

 

“Tony? McGee, Tony’s not alright. I think we need to have Ducky check him again,” Ziva’s worried voice cut through the memory once more and he blinked himself back to reality. 

 

“I’m fine, Ziva.” Tony growled at her. He returned his attention to the interrogation and ignored the tremors that racked his body, as if a Crucio had actually been cast on him.

 

“How much did Sharif pay you?” Gibbs asked of the man in the chair. 

 

“What, you just like killing Americans?” Mann asked him incredulously.

 

“We weren’t planning on killing anyone. The plan was to scare people.”

 

“Hey, it’s working.” Gibbs glared at their suspect.

 

“You guys don’t get it, do you? Every time there’s a catastrophe, someone cashes in.” This piqued Tony’s interest, especially after what Luna and Draco had informed him about Eris. “Katrina - the construction companies cleaned up. The tsunami - traders made a killing on tsunami detection stocks.”

 

“And during a chemical scare…?” 

 

“Have you checked the stock market today? My lab paid me in stock options. The phony attack that put six people in the hospital, well, that worked, ‘cause everybody’s running out and buying gas masks now. The stock prices went through the roof. I’ll be a millionaire by tomorrow’s bell.”

 

“You’re going to be in prison by tomorrow’s bell.” Tony kept his gaze and ears focused on Gibbs and his voice to keep himself grounded as his body fought off the BZ gas. He rubbed his eyes with the hand that he wasn’t leaning on and took a deep breath. 

 

“Clear your mind, boy,” the familiar drawl of his potions professor spoke softly in the Observation room. 

 

“I can’t,” Tony whispered, but ZIva had heard it and looked at him curiously. Tony kept his eyes closed and didn’t see it. 

 

“Can’t or won’t? Occlumency can help you separate the hallucinations from reality.” Tony sighed, while he had picked up on Legitimacy well enough, to occlude his mind had always been difficult. 

 

There was a familiar sounding smack and he turned to see that his mother had just Gibbs-smacked Snape across the back of the head. “You never did learn how to teach my son. Harry, focus on something, anything, it doesn’t matter what. Just focus on it and let it fill your mind.”

 

Tony nodded and turned his attention back to the interrogation and he latched everything he could onto the man he loved that was in the other room. He didn’t pay attention to what was being said anymore, just Gibbs. Every dream, every moment, every truth he had shared with the man coming to the forefront of his mind. 

 

***

After the interrogation, things didn’t get any easier for Tony, but whenever he felt a hallucination coming on, he glanced to Gibbs and he calmed. It slowed down his work pace, but he figured that was a small price to pay for keeping his sanity. 

 

They confirmed that the BZ was modified to be useless airborne, but other than that they had nothing when Gibbs’ phone rang. Gibbs signaled and McGee jumped onto his computer and the conversation began playing for all to hear.

 

“I just called to see how your Agent DiNozzo was doing.”

 

Tony couldn’t miss the growl in Gibbs’ voice, “he’s fine. He’s doing better than those innocent people you put in the hospital.”

 

“I’d stop by and pay my respect, but I’m on my way out of town. How about I send you a postcard? I’m planning on traveling quite a bit for my retirement.”

 

“And your Chechen buddies?”

 

“I’m not even sure where Chechnya is.”

 

“We both know you’re not retiring.” 

 

“With what I’ve made, I plan on doing plenty.”

 

“Who were they?” Tony was confused by the sudden change in questioning from Gibbs. He kept his gaze focused on Gibbs as he felt another wave of hallucinations coming on. “Wife? Family? Come on, Sharif, I’ve been there, I know. It’s not the money. It’s payback. You won’t stop until you get it. So who were they?”

 

Just then the call cut off, Sharif had hung up.

 

Tony fought to keep his breathing even as the memory of Sirius falling through the veil played through his mind. He saw the arch, he saw the curtain, he sat the Death Eater’s spells flying left and right. He hadn’t been expecting it, but a sudden coldness grasped his shoulder and he turned and looked up to see the ghostly visage of his godfather. 

 

“Go to the bathroom, pup.” Sirius moved away from his desk and stood by the door to the men’s room. 

 

Tony stood up quickly, “gotta hit the head.” He didn’t wait for anyone to respond and ignored Ziva and McGee’s sputtering. He knew that they had all seen the tears and had seen him staring up at nothing. 

 

As soon as he entered the men’s room, he made sure that it was empty before he locked the door and leaned against the far wall. He slid down the wall till he was sitting on the floor and let the tears fall for a moment before he sobbed out an apology.

 

“You have nothing to apologize for, pup.  _ I _ chose to follow after you that night.  _ I _ was the one that knew I wasn’t ready for a big fight like that. Hell, I think I called you James once or twice.” Sirius smirked down at his godson and Tony gave him a watery smile. “You’re doing so good fighting this thing. Just keep going. Before you know it, you’ll have caught the bad guy and they’ll get the cure to you, finally, and you’ll be serenading your ghostly crowd once more.”

 

“Yeah, thanks Padfoot. One of your better pep talks.” Tony weakly smirked at Sirius and made his way to the mirror. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs was worried. Tony had been acting weird and he had the feeling that Tony had in fact been dosed with the BZ gas, despite Ducky having cleared him. As soon as Tony had looked up towards the ceiling and started crying, Gibbs was on his feet about to push everyone away from Tony. Instead, Tony got up and ran for the head. He followed soon after and what he heard through the door was confusing as hell. 

 

“You have nothing to apologize for, pup.  _ I _ chose to follow after you that night.  _ I _ was the one that knew I wasn’t ready for a big fight like that. Hell, I think I called you James once or twice.” It was the same voice that had called Tony Prongslet, and was apparently the cousin of the female speaker that had been at Tony’s apartment. “You’re doing so good fighting this thing. Just keep going. Before you know it, you’ll have caught the bad guy and they’ll get the cure to you, finally, and you’ll be serenading your ghostly crowd once more.”

 

_ I knew it. _ They still had to wait for the cure to arrive and it would do no good to sequester Tony away into a corner and would probably make the hallucinations worse. He was about to try the door in order to get Tony out of the bathroom, when Ducky came up and told him to come down to Autopsy. Ducky had a theory that the BZ toxin had been modified for tactile absorbtion. 

 

He took the skin sample straight up to Abby’s lab with Mann following closely behind. He thrust the skin sample at Abby impatiently and stared at her as she tested the skin. She tested it as fast as she could and kept sneaking worried glances at Gibbs. 

 

“What?”   
  


“Is Tony going to be okay?”

 

“DiNozzo’s fine, just tell me what Sharif combined the BZ with.”

 

Abby nodded resolutely, “DMSO, or as we professionals call it dimethyl sulfoxide. It’s an industrial-strength solvent that has a very interesting side effect.” Gibbs remembered the case that had pulled Kate over to NCIS. The killer then had used DMSO to get venom into the bloodstream, now Sharif had used it to put BZ into DiNozzo’s bloodstream. 

 

“It carries whatever it comes into contact with directly into the bloodstream.” Mann looked to Gibbs as if to say,  _ aren’t you impressed? _ Gibbs fought the urge to roll his eyes.

 

“Wow,” Abby sounded impressed however, “gold star for the Colonel. So it looks like Sharif has mixed BZ with DMSO. Which means that all anyone has to do is come in contact with a coated surface to be exposed. The more BZ is in the mix, the faster it’ll take effect. Anywhere from ten minutes to 36 hours.”

 

“How many people?”

 

“The bad news, about 100,000.”

 

“Oh, well, the good news better be really good.” Mann sarcastically scolded Abby. Gibbs fought the urge to glare at Mann for her familiar attitude with his people. 

 

“Well, Sharif is going to have some serious distribution problems. If he were to go door-to-door, right? There’s only so many people he can get to before we get him. He could do more damage with a shotgun.”

 

Just then his phone rang and the welcome voice of his SFA was on the other side. They had a lead on Sharif. Gibbs go up to the bullpen and noticed that Tony was looking particularly twitchy, but he sighed and continued as if nothing were wrong. 

 

“Sharif has spent the last three days going from bank to bank,” Ziva reported.

 

“Depositing or withdrawing,” Gibbs asked them, trying to keep his gaze away from Tony. It was like the plague all over again. Tony was dying and there was nothing Gibbs could do about it. 

 

“Withdrawing, and all of it in singles,” McGee answered.

 

“12 transactions at 12 different banks.” Ziva continued before McGee pressed the button to make the screen change.

 

“Which is why it was flagged,” Tony’s weary voice had an attempt at energy, but Gibbs could tell that Tony was exhausted. “Anti-laundering law used to say any transaction over ten grand needs to be reported.”

 

“But those are 9,000 each.” Mann kept her eyes glued to the screen. 

 

“Sharif must have known about the limit,” McGee answered her shortly. It seemed as if McGee was joining his girlfriend in her dislike of Hollis Mann. 

 

“What he didn’t know was that the Fed lowered the threshold to five grand last month,” Tony swayed so subtly that if Gibbs hadn’t been watching for it, he never would have seen it. 

 

“How much?” Mann asked the group.

 

“108,000,” Ziva answered as she looked concerned at Tony. 

 

“He’s putting the BZ on the money,” Mann said as she made the connection.  _ Well, yeah. Gathered that as soon as they said he was taking out large amounts of money in all singles.  _

 

“By the time that changes hands, within 36 hours…” Gibbs began.

 

“A lot more than 100,000 will be at risk.” Mann completed his thought.

 

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs gently barked at the man.

 

Tony cleared his throat before he answered Gibbs, “I’ll- I’ll check casinos and race tracks. Best places to get rid of large amounts of cash quick.” 

 

“Agent McGee, airports, train stations, wherever Sharif can hit large groups of people,” Gibbs chafed at Mann ordering his people, but let it go once more in favor of finding Sharif. 

 

“Ziva, coordinate roadblocks with local LEOs,” Ziva nodded at her order and moved to follow it. Gibbs felt when Mann approached him again.

 

“We’re going to have to issue a warning. It’s going to wreak havoc on the economy.” Mann was complaining to him as he watched the image of Sharif one more time. 

 

“The economy’s not what I’m worried about.” He squinted his eyes at the picture as he tried to make out what was in his bag.

 

“He could be anywhere. We’re not going to find him now,” she complained to him again. He bit back a growl.  _ Maybe if you quit bitching and actually did something, like I’m about to, maybe we could find him.  _

 

“McGee!” Gibbs barked.

 

“Yeah boss,” Tim barely glanced their way before finishing the last few keystrokes and heading over to them.

 

“What is this,” Gibbs pointed at the oblong box he had seen in the pocket of Sharif’s bag.  _ Eyesight’s shot my ass, _ Gibbs grinned inwardly, thinking of her last visit. 

 

“Well it looks like the cash,” McGee told him dumbly.

 

“I can see that, McGee. No, that. It’s one of those gaming things.” He tried to zoom in on the picture when McGee finally caught on and zoomed in for him. 

 

“Looks like a GBP,” Tim looked and sounded thoughtful. “It’s a Gamebox Portable.”

 

“Pest guy said Sharif was addicted to it,” Tony supplied. He still sounded worn, but still sounded competent. Gibbs was reluctant to send Tony back to Ducky, he didn’t know how Magic would affect the BZ gas.  _ Would it even affect Tony? The plague certainly affected him, but is that with diseases or chemical weapons?  _ There were too many questions that he didn’t have answers for to feel comfortable letting Tony out of his sights. 

 

“It’s a wireless handheld game console,” McGee informed them.

 

Gibbs sighed as he led McGee through the next logical step, “wireless? Does that mean traceable?”

 

“If he’s playing it and we know his online gamer ID, yeah.”

  
“We do,” Mann informed him as they headed for Abby’s Lab. 

 

“Abs…” Gibbs called out as he saw Abby furiously typing away at her computer.

 

“Tony already called. I’m on it. It looks like while Sharif was waiting for Major Maguire to pop his cork. He spent four hours at the bowling alley playing an online video game called Killer Kudsuckers.”

 

“Got his handle?” 

 

“I’m almost there,” the banter between Tim and Abby was comforting to Gibbs’ frayed nerves over his worry for Tony. “Oh, look. It’s ‘Agent Gibbs.’”

 

“Access in the multi-player registry.” Mcgee typed away intensely focused on his task, “He’s online. He’s actually been online for over an hour.”

 

“He’s not in any rush.” Abby sarcastically admonished their terrorist on the run. 

 

“No, he’s waiting for something,- a plane or …” Mann trailed off and McGee took over. 

 

“Train. He’s at the Amtrak station.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony rode in the backseat, behind Mann as Gibbs drove. Gibbs had started keeping him close calling with a, “DiNozzo! With me. Ziva, lock the station down. Nothing leaves.”

 

“Which way, McGee?” Tony tried to hide the shakes and trembles that he felt. 

 

McGee continued to ignore the state Tony was in, but he had seen the concerned and worried glances, “I don’t know. He went off-line.” 

 

“McGee!” 

 

“Yeah, Boss?”

 

“Have security block all exits.” Mann ordered before Gibbs could. Tony looked to Gibbs to await instruction and was grateful to see the nod to follow. It was easier to fight against the hallucinations if he focused on Gibbs. 

 

They had just walked past a man putting money into a donation box when Gibbs turned around and yelled for Sharif to get his hands in the air. Tony slowly turned and slowly raised his weapon. Sharif ran and Tony took off after him. He didn’t notice as he pulled ahead of Gibbs and chased down Sharif himself. Sharif then started throwing the money around and Gibbs yelled for Mann to take care of the money and that he and DiNozzo would get Sharif. 

 

Tony followed Sharif into the bathroom and there he saw memories of Dementors crawling out from the bathroom stalls. He raised his weapon and tried to keep his hand steady as he continued to aim at Sharif. 

 

“Something wrong Agent DiNozzo? You know, that piano of yours is quite beautiful.” 

 

Tony growled and felt a hand on his arms, “hey, he’s unarmed. Let me go cuff him.” Before Tony could protest Gibbs going anywhere near the Dementor infested wall, the man casually walked over to Sharif and roughly cuffed him and made the man sit against the wall of the bathroom. 

 

As soon as Sharif was in cuffs Tony crumpled in on himself and slid himself into the corner farthest away from where he saw the dementors. He tried to tell himself that they weren’t real, but the desperation he felt was intense. Acting almost on instinct he placed his hand flat on the ground and his patronus appeared before him and wrapped him in it’s glowing light. He cast a notice-me-not charm and tried to regulate his breathing. 

 

Suddenly, Gibbs was there. He didn’t have the presence of mind to even complain that Gibbs shouldn’t have been able to be near Tony right then. “Hey, DiNozzo. Come on, stay with me. The national guard are coming with an antidote.” 

 

Tony clutched to Gibbs, even as the older man helped him to stand. The ethereal snake wrapping around Gibbs as well. Gibbs helped Tony to walk over to the emergency personnel to get the cure, however it wasn’t until Gibbs had physically touched the other man before they had been noticed. He was helped to the ground and Gibbs turned his head to whisper against his ear. 

 

“Your magic is hiding us, stop it. People can’t help if they can’t find you,” at Gibbs’ words Tony’s spell dropped immediately. 

 

Tony shook as he tried to ignore the dementors that he saw. He felt a pinch in his arm and then everything went blank. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yet another new dreamscape met Tony as he dreamed. It was a comfortable room with a plush red couch sitting before a fireplace. He saw Gibbs already sitting, lounging in the couch. Jet lazily looked back at him before jerking his head to join him on the couch. Nathair eagerly went and curled against Jet’s side.

 

“Had a long day, Jet, got dosed with BZ gas and saw some really bad memories.” His head tucked into Jet’s shoulder, he didn’t see the calculating look on Jet’s face. 

 

“Like what?” he gently crooned.

 

“It ended with me seeing Dementors around you.” 

 

Jet looked down at his Nathair with a raised eyebrow. “Dementors are creatures that suck all the happiness out of an area and have the ability to suck out your soul.”

 

Jet’s arm instinctively tightened his hold on his Nathair. “You were around them enough to know what they looked like?”

 

“Yeah, I was thirteen when one caused me to fall off my broom during a quidditch match.” he gave a soft chuckle at the memory. 

 

Jet started to chuckle, “I don’t think I understood half of that.” His voice suddenly dropped low, “I had to flirt with someone, Nathair.”

 

“I know, Colonel Mann.”

 

Jet turned to look at Nathair closely, “you were at the train station today.”

 

It looked as if Nathair were holding something back as he hesitated before he nodded. “But I’m okay now, now I just want you.” Nathair leaned forward and gently kissed the man before him. “Please, Jet, take it away.” Another kiss. “Give me a new memory to think about.” 

 

Nathair’s arms had wrapped themselves around Jet’s shoulders, so Jet gripped the ass he admired and moved the other man to be straddling his lap. Their kisses slowly turned from languid and sweet to rough and demanding. The heat building between them until their clothes melted away with the power of the dreamscape. 

 

Jet moved a hand from it’s place at Nathair’s hip to tightly grip both of their cocks together, “Talk to me, Nathair.”

 

Whispered babble about what they were doing met his ear and Jet rewarded that by kissing and biting the neck of the man in his lap. The babbling continued as the fingers of Jet’s other hand found their way to Nathair’s waiting hole. A loud wanton moan greeted him as his fingers breached said hole, even as his other hand gripped their cocks together. 

 

Just when Nathair felt as if he would burst, Jet’s fingers left him and he whimpered at the loss for a moment before Jet growled in his ear, “ride me, Mr. Wizard.”

 

Nathair barked out a laugh at the name before he whispered huskily, “gladly.”

 

This time is was Jet’s turn to moan as his cock was engulfed in the splendid heat that was Nathair’s body. Nathair’s hips moved deliciously as he moved up and down Jet’s throbbing member.  _ “You wanted me to talk, remember? I remember your reaction when I first did thiss.”  _

 

Jet’s hips jerked involuntary at the hisses that now spewed from his mouth. In reaction, he forced Nathair to sit back and fully engulf his cock as his head moved forward and bit down on the sensitive nub of skin on Nathair’s chest. His cock would have hardened further at the noises Nathair made, if it were possible. He rolled the nipple between his teeth and Nathair’s hips jerked as his hands held the man down. 

 

_ “Yess, please,”  _ Nathair didn’t pay attention to what he hissed as Jet released his nipple and reattached himself to his neck,  _ “what were you a blood ssucker in another life?” _ Nathair felt Jet chuckle against his neck, but paid it no mind as his babble started to turn incoherent. Suddenly they flipped and Nathair now laid out on the bed that the couch had turned into and Jet’s hips started driving him into the mattress.  _ “Make me yours once more.”  _ Nathair choked out just before Jet’s hips stilled within him and Jet’s lips covered his own and Nathair’s release coated their bodies. 

 

***

Tony awoke the next day to find himself once more in the hospital after his BZ scare. A part of him was still yelling at himself for letting his own wards become so lax, another part glad that it had been him to get hit with it rather than the rest of his team, rather than Gibbs. He looked over and was shocked to see Gibbs sleeping in a chair, his long black coat being used as a blanket. 

 

He watched Gibbs sleep for a moment before he started looking around at the IVs connected to him. He saw that there was nothing impeding him to use the restroom himself, he slowly and quietly started to get himself up. He should have known better, this was Gibbs afterall.

 

“Need to hit the head?” Bastard didn’t even open his eyes. 

 

“Yeah, I think I got it, boss.” The moment he put weight on his legs however, he felt them give out and faster than he thought Gibbs could move, he was there. Silently Gibbs helped him to the bathroom. Tony felt his strength return with every step and told Gibbs to wait at the door. He didn’t notice as Gibbs’ eyes move to his neck and widen in shock. Tony felt the gown shift as he walked over to the urinal and relieved himself. He made his way over to the sink once he was done and had just finished washing his hands when he looked in the mirror and noticed what had caught Gibbs’ eyes. 

 

His neck was littered with dark purple love bites. He stared at the bruises and knew that he hadn’t been close enough with anyone lately to do  _ that _ . Tony’s heard hammered in his chest as he realized that it had been from Gibbs from the dreamscape. He cast a quick glamor over the marks and went back into his room. He opened the door and hobbled his way back to his bed with Gibbs hovering at his shoulder.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He couldn’t believe what he had seen on Tony’s neck. Dark hickey’s littered his neck. Gibbs was in shock, he knew that Tony’s neck had been clean of any marks the night before. He wondered for a moment if Tony had just cast some sort of spell to hide them and the spell had worn off as he slept, but the pattern of the marks was in a distinct shape. 

 

They started just behind his ear and trailed down his neck in a straight line and at the base of his neck, the marks curled into a distinct J shape. A shape he remembered biting into his Nathair during his dreams the night before. He had spent the entire time he was stuck outside the bathroom convincing himself that it had been Jeanne, the woman that Tony had been dating that had made the marks. 

 

That lasted until Tony came out of the bathroom. The marks were still there, but at the edges they seemed to blur. He hovered by Tony’s shoulder to study the marks, and to be there if the man appeared unsteady. Tony got into his bed just fine and Gibbs went back to sit in his previously occupied chair. 

 

“Tony, what are Dementors?” He saw the way that Tony had frozen at the mention of the creatures Nathair had told him about the night before. 

 

Tony took a deep breath before he carefully replied, “creatures that suck all the happiness out of an area and have the ability to suck out your soul.” 

 

The exact wording the same as what Nathair had told him last night, it unnerved a part of Gibbs and something niggled at him that this was a clue.  _ Clue to what?  _


	20. Blowback

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait for an update. Work kind of went to shit. But hopefully now things can even out a little bit, people came back from vacation, yay.
> 
> Please remember that this is an unbeta'd work and the only person that reads these chapters before it's posted is me so if there's anything that doesn't make sense, let me know.

Ducky invited Tony and Luna over to look at the letters he had shared with Eris Malfoy as she had gone to medical school. She talked about the Muggle birthrate and how high it was in comparison to Pureblood birth rates. Luna called Draco over and Ducky was uncharacteristically quiet as the blonde arrived. 

 

When Ducky mentioned sarcastically that Eris had basically run Slytherin from day one, Draco squirmed a bit. The blonde admitted that once Abraxas had found out Eris had gone to the Muggle world and had been studying among them and learning from them, she had been disowned and stricken from ever being mentioned. 

 

“The only reason I found out about her in the first place is that Father had hidden away an old family picture and when he went away to Azkaban, I had to go through it all.” Draco distractedly told them as he read through some of the letters. “So what do birthrates have to do with terrorism?” 

 

Tony shrugged, “Dunno, but if nothing else it’s a clue about her. She’s medically minded, patient, you mentioned that she’s not big on battles, what do you mean?”

 

“Voldemort would call for raids to kill Muggles. She doesn’t do that, instead she funds terrorist groups and lets them strike where they want, even giving them suggestions. She helps arms dealers, right now we think she’s helping a french arms’ dealer. 

 

_ Rule 39. No such thing as coincidence. _ Tony froze as he heard that, “La Grenouille?” 

 

“Yeah, how did you know?” Draco eyed Tony up and shot a wary look to Ducky. 

 

“Ducky can be trusted, that’s why I told him about Mick. Palmer too. They’re the only ones that know about my other identity as well, so don’t even think about telling them about my fame and asking them to bring me back to the limelight to advocate against her. Sorry, not gonna happen,” Tony rolled his eyes as he vouched for his trusted. 

 

“Oh my yes, poor boy would have gone insane, not letting anyone know him by his name. It’s no wonder our dear ‘Anthony’ is so good at undercover ops.” Ducky smiled proudly at Tony for a moment and Draco stood back, shocked at  _ Potter _ being the best at ‘undercover’. 

 

“Yeah, my director kind of has a hard on for The Frog.” Tony shot a look of apology Ducky’s way before he started talking again, “Jenny’s had me on undercover assignment. Seduce a doctor known as Jeanne Benoit. Daughter of Rene Benoit. Also known as, La Grenouille. Told Gibbs about it a while back, telling you guys now. Luna, do you have a central hub where all of this information is pieced together to form a profile about her?”

 

Luna looked thoughtful for a moment, “I suppose that would be wherever the twins have a shop, they’ve magically linked the stores to communicate with each other and we sort of lead as a committee, rather than a single central leader.”

 

“Well I should hope not, you’re trying to span the globe in an effort to combat this woman and her agents,” Ducky sounded impressed and Luna smiled. 

 

“The twins have been looking for a location here in the DC area so that the agents that Draco and I, now the four of us can operate here with all the information,” Luna continued her explanation. 

 

Tony smiled at the thought of a business he helped to fund now is a network for an anti-terrorism unit of witches and wizards around the globe. He was impressed by Luna and made a note to vote her president of the entire planet if it ever came about. “Damn, there a name for your little organization?”

 

“Order of the Stag,” out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw Draco hold back a snicker as Tony bit back a groan at the name. “We’ve only just started recruiting witches and wizards in America, we wanted to set up bases in problem areas first.”

 

“When did you start this?”

 

“About 2000.” Luna shrugged, “Draco and I noticed that things were worsening on a global scale.” Tony glanced between them, hoping that he was right and Luna wasn’t so cruel as to string Tim along for the sake of the mission, like he was with Jeanne. 

 

“I’m not with Draco, my relationship with Tim came as a rather welcome surprise. My goal was actually Abby, her and Penelope Garcia of the FBI are who I wanted to be connected to. Finding you,  _ Tony _ , was a surprise,” Luna explained quickly.

 

Tony made a face, “so your goal was to get Abby and this Garcia person to be, what? Friends?” 

 

Luna nodded, “they are really good at what they do. I’ve also been making connections to a Delilah Fielding at the DOD, we’ve started having coffee and tea every Friday before work.” 

 

“What do you talk about?” Tony asked, bewildered before he had a chance to see Draco’s warning of a shaking head.

 

“Mostly tech stuff, our favorite hacking stories. We also share gossip, I’ve been slowly trying to convince them to share things about work that aren’t deemed classified.”

 

“Hence the hacking stories,” Tony caught on to what she was saying. “What about you? Have you tried to get into the alphabet soup yet?”

 

“I’m here on a visitor’s visa, while Draco is here on a work visa. I’m working on my citizenship first, as is Draco. Azeon won the drive off and got the DOD contract, so Draco’s pretty much set. After citizenship, I plan to apply for either CIA or NSA with the stipulation that I stay with Tim.” A blush came up her face, “he’s important to me.”

 

Tony held up his hands as if to say,  _ I’m not saying anything. _ Ducky smiled approvingly and Draco just looked to them all, bewildered. Luna nodded to herself seeming rather self satisfied and there was nothing else said on the matter. 

 

They had spent the day at Ducky’s and once they parted for the evening, Tony sat in his apartment. Alone. He contemplated what he was doing to Jeanne and knew it was cruel to her and he knew that there would be no happily ever after for them. She would probably wish him dead by the end of this entire mess and his guilt would never leave him. He pushed such thoughts from his mind and turned longingly to his piano. Since Sharif had basically used the piano to attack him, he hadn’t quite felt the same about that piano. Instead, he opened his laptop and continued his search for an outlet for the myriad of needs that flowed through him.

 

The need to submit, the need to play, the need to be seen, the need to be wanted.

 

***

Tony leaned back in the plane seat and took the opportunity to admire Gibbs. The man in question was currently making a show of being engrossed in his crossword puzzle. He saw the same twitch that Gibbs did and he mentally mourned the end of his oogle opportunity.

 

“TV drama. Eight letters. Down.”  Gibbs listed off the information. He had missed the mental crosswords that he had done with Gibbs on many a stakeout in the past. 

 

“Uh, St. Elsewhere.” Gibbs chuckled and he allowed himself a moment to enjoy Gibbs’ smile before he lightly tapped their ‘prisoner’ on the forehead with a paper of his own. “Morning, Sunshine!” 

 

“Where am I?”

 

Tony lazily leaned back in his seat and lied easily, “Tenerife. Which is, uh, the Canary Islands. We’re almost there.”

 

“Where?” The man looked confusedly between him and Gibbs.

 

Tony lazily smiled over at Gibbs, “Hey, what kind of clubs do they have in Morocco?”

 

His smile deepened when he saw Gibbs’ lips twitch in amusement, “We’re not going to Morocco.”

 

“Come on.” Tony cajoled and threw a little flirtation into his voice and body as he leaned over the table as their ‘guest’ nearly gave himself whiplash, he was moving his head between the two Federal Agents so fast. “On the way back?”

 

“On the way back from where?” 

 

Tony looked over at the man, “oh, sorry. They only gave you a one-way ticket.” 

 

“Who ‘they’?”

 

Tony shook his head and turned back to Gibbs, throwing some more flirtation at the man, “Here’s the deal: We jump into Casablanca, hit Rick’s Cafe, for a little, uh,  _ cock _ tail. I could tickle the ivories. ‘Here’s looking at you, kid.’ and then we’re back to DC, nobody knows.”

 

Any amount of shame he felt for his blatant flirting and puns was thrown right out the window at Gibbs’ smile and subsequent chuckle, even if it was all just a show for their ‘guest’.

 

“Who are you people?” he finally shouted at them. 

 

Tony suddenly turned serious and faced him, “Couriers. Delivering a package as a favor to our Israeli friends.”

 

“Package, huh?” 

 

“Don’t take it personal,  _ Goliath _ .” How Gibbs could put that much annoyance into his voice, Tony would never know and knew that he never wanted that tone directed at him. Then again Gibbs’ annoyance with this particular weapons dealer could stem from Tony’s own mess that he had recently told Gibbs about. 

 

“Yeah,  can I ask you about that? Every arms dealer I meet,”  _ Granted you’re technically the first one I’ve  _ met _ , but eh, whatever. _ “They have the cheesiest code names. I mean, ‘Goliath’ did you choose that?”

 

“You are CIA, yes?” 

 

Tony just barely stopped himself from laughing until he had made eye contact with Gibbs. They laughed together as they played the man before him. He enjoyed the moment of laughter he shared with Gibbs until he saw Ziva come out from the cockpit. “Ooh, this should be interesting. Goliath, I’d like you to meet one of our Israeli friends.”

 

Ziva came out, slapped Goliath, and started berating the man in Hebrew. “You’re lucky she doesn’t have her slingshot.” He saw the twitch of Gibbs’ lips at his biblical joke and turned his attention to Ziva.

 

“Still waiting for clearance to take off. The pilot says we’ll only be on the ground for a couple of minutes when we reach Zaire. It’s much too dangerous to stay there any longer.” Ziva settled back in her seat and Goliath perked up at the nugget of information Ziva had let him know.

 

“Zaire? You’re taking me to Zaire?”  _ Ooh, was that fear? _

 

“You sold a shipment of RPGs to their army. They were very disappointed with the quality of the merchandise.”

 

Gibbs continued to work on his puzzle as Tony and Ziva continued to tease Goliath. The pilot told them they were clear for take-off and Goliath started bargaining with them.

 

“Please. I-I am very wealthy. I have diamonds.” 

 

Tony rolled his eyes, “and I have an underground vault with more gold than I know what to do with. Oh, by the way, you, uh,  _ had _ diamonds. This jet is very expensive and, uh, somebody had to pay for it.” 

 

“I know things.”

 

“Yeah. How to trade weapons for diamonds, we got that.”

 

“I’ll trade information.”

 

“And what could you know that would interest the CIA?” Tony leaned forward to show his seriousness when Ziva laughed at the thought of them being CIA. 

 

“He thinks we’re the CIA?” All three of them started laughing and Tony tuned out Ziva’s mirthless laughter and enjoyed the sound of Gibbs laughing. 

 

“Why not? CIA, FBI, NSA- what difference does it make? I have information to trade for my life.” The plane’s engine turned over and Goliath looked nervously over his shoulder. “ARES.”

 

“Leo,” Tony shot back.  _ Technically I am a Leo. _

 

“Virgo,” Gibbs caught Tony’s eye and he made it a point to file that information away for later.

 

Ziva held up a clawed hand and smiled smugly to herself, “scorpio.” 

 

“No, your Navy’s encrypted satellite system.” Goliath looked pleadingly at Ziva.

 

“Not my Navy,” Ziva nodded towards Tony and Gibbs. 

 

Goliath kept his gaze on Ziva, “The American Navy. They use it to send target coordinates to cruise missiles.” 

 

Gibbs forced Goliath’s body back on the couch he was lying on and an image of Tony sprawled all over Gibbs’ couch, trussed up and waiting for his boss, crossed through Tony’s mind. Tony crossed his legs to hide his suddenly rebellious cock. “Did you get that out of  _ Jane’s _ , Goliath?”

 

He didn’t see the look that Gibbs gave him, nor the thoughtful twinkle in his boss’ eye as the conversation continued. “What if Iran possessed it? Or North Korea? In the war, they could intercept and change cruise missile coordinates, send them to Tel Aviv, Seoul, or even return to sender.”

 

“But they don’t have ARES.” Tony taunted.

 

“Sit back, relax, and try to enjoy the rest of your miserable life.”

 

“ARES is for sale.”

 

Gibbs quickly got on the phone with Abby and McGee shortly after that. They had gotten a name out of Goliath before that, Charles Harrow. They led Goliath off the plane shortly after and Tony couldn’t resist one last barb.

 

“This isn’t Tenerife.”   
  


“Well, I told them to take a left at Bermuda.”

 

***

They rode up the elevator together and while Tony couldn’t see it, he knew Gibbs was smiling a little as he replayed the plane in his head. He knew, because he was doing it too. He even had the grin to match his boss’. 

 

His smile soured however as on the way to his desk he received a phone call from one Jeanne Benoit. He cast a ‘notice-me-not’ charm on himself and wrote Gibbs a note saying “Frog Business” he put the sticky note on the man’s keyboard and slipped out of the Bullpen without anyone noticing that he left. He stood in the hallway by the stairs and rolled his eyes as he talked with her seductively. 

 

“I’m telling you, my pulse is racing, Doctor. My heart is throbbing,”  _ for Gibbs.  _ “I’ve done a self-diagnosis here, and, uh, it’s not good. I need some relief from the good doctor.” He felt Gibbs’ gaze on him and he abruptly turned and stared into those baby blues as he spoke into the phone, “I got to go.” He snapped his phone shut and looked back at Gibbs.

 

“Hope you flirt better than that when it’s someone you’re actually attracted to,” Gibbs gave him a small smirk.

 

Tony’s eyes widened in shock, “I- I was just, uh-” 

 

“Go,” Gibbs nodded for Tony to return to his desk and he happily did so. Unbeknownst to Tony, Gibbs found his eyes drawn to his SFA’s rear end which seemed so familiar to him, almost as if he had stared at that ass for years,  _ but that was Nathair, wasn’t it? _

 

Tony scurried off and quickly completed his work before Gibbs could yell at him. Once he was done, he sidled up to Gibbs’ desk. “Briefing paper?” 

 

“Done.” 

 

“Audio of Interrogation?”

 

“Don’t. You already know it’s being done or I wouldn’t be standing here. Waiting.”

 

Gibbs finally looked up and narrowed his eyes at Tony in thought, “waiting for what?”

 

Tony sighed and was about to speak when McGee’s computer started beeping, “Looks like McGee’s search has come up with something, boss. Looks like there’s a name match in one of Harrow’s emails. Trent Kort. He’s on the FBI arms dealer watch list.”

 

“How old?”

 

“Five days. Uh, bio’s thin. Trent Thomas Kort, 37 years old, British National, believed to have recently joined-” He pulled up the picture on the plasma and stared in shock at the image of the powerful wizard that was aligned with La Grenouille. 

 

Gibbs caught him staring, “hey. You know this guy?”

 

“No, but he’s a part of the  _ Frog _ problem I’m having, and he probably went to my alma mater.” He gave Gibbs a couple a pointed looks that he nodded at.

 

“Go. Tell her. I’ll be up in a bit.”

 

Tony nodded and raced up the stairs, he didn’t see Cynthia at her desk, but he went past that warning bell and barged into the Director’s office. “I know-” He stopped himself as he was staring at Cynthia fixing a bra strap for Jenny.  _ Ya know, I really like being a guy. _ “Uh, sorry. Cynthia wasn’t at her desk, so-”

 

“So you barged in, DiNozzo?”

 

“There, that should hold until you get home, Director.” Cynthia finished up her patch job and shook her head at Tony as she passed him. 

 

“I broke a bra strap, so I had Cynthia get me a safety pin, I don’t even know why I’m telling you this,” Jenny smiled nervously at him as he invaded her space behind her desk. 

 

“To ease the awkwardness of the moment.”

 

“We know each other so well, Tony, there are no awkward moments.”

 

“Uh, yeah, may I?” Tony nodded to her computer. Tony quickly filled her in on what the team had found. Including Trent Kort.

 

“This is good,” he didn’t like the gleam she had in her eye. 

 

“And it’s bad. I had to lie to Gibbs.” 

 

She shrugged him off, “You were on an undercover mission.”  _ Yeah, that’s what Gibbs told me. _

 

“He’s my boss,” he countered.

 

“And I’m his boss.”  _ But you’re not in love with him, oh wait, you are. _ “You leave him to me. Your ass is covered.”  _ But I don’t want you covering my ass. Stop, no sex thoughts at work. _

 

“I’m not worried about my ass, Jenny.” She shot him a sharp look at his reprimand. 

 

“Gibbs put Harrow under surveillance?” 

 

“No.”

 

“No?” 

 

“He sent Ziva and McGee to pick him up.” Tony sent a quick magical jolt to Gibbs’ wallet as Jenny reached over and spoke into her phone to Cynthia.

 

“Cynthia, get Agent Gibbs in here ASAP-” she was cut off by Gibbs bursting through the door and Tony startled up as if he had been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Gibbs gave him a short nod before he turned and sat down at the conference table.

 

“You sent for me, Director?” 

 

“Call Ziva and McGee off.” Tony made his way to Gibbs’ side of the room.

 

“Off?” 

 

“They are not to pick up-” she floundered for a moment and looked to Tony, shocked to see that he had already made it to the conference table and was leaning against it, completely at ease beside Gibbs.

 

“Harrow.” Tony supplied to her shocked look. Gibbs leaned back and rested his arm across the table, his arm just barely brushing against Tony’s ass. He fought to keep any kind of reaction out of his body language, but knew that Gibbs saw. The arm rolled away and Tony kept his gaze on Jenny. 

 

“Charles Harrow is offering a top secret Navy weapons system to the highest bidder.” Gibbs casually told Jenny as the arm that was resting on the table came back around and nudged Tony’s hip towards the door. Tony nodded and bowed out of the office. 

 

He immediately made his way down to the bullpen and went to Gibbs’ desk. “McGee, change of plans. Follow Harrow, don’t approach.”

 

“Got it,” McGee quickly responded and Tony got the feeling that he had stopped Ziva just in time. 

 

Tony was sitting at McGee’s desk when Gibbs and Jenny came down the stairs. He pointedly ignored Jenny pinning Gibbs against the window, but he did see the look of annoyance cross Gibbs’ face at her actions. Jenny came walking into the bullpen like she owned it,  _ which technically she does, in a way, but this is Gibbs’ territory. _

 

He did his job, he informed the Director, “McGee’s search is kicking out another bidder.” He then showed his loyalty, “Hey, boss?” He shouted across the bullpen and Jenny rubbed her ear, annoyed. “McGee’s got something.” Tony pulled up the information sheet on this new bidder, The Black Rose. “What is it with these wacky code names?”

 

“Anonymity deflects more bullets than body armor.” Jenny informed them as Gibbs made his way to behind McGee’s desk. He placed his arm across the back of Tony’s chair and Tony resisted the urge to turn those extra few inches and snog the shit out of his boss. 

 

He took a deep breath of the aroma that was Gibbs before he continued conveying information, “well, this one’s a woman. The Black Rose.”

 

“Rose O’Leary. She ran guns for the IRA until peace broke out. Who’s flagged her?”

 

“MI-5. They were tracking her in Africa. Lost contact six days ago. They think she slipped aboard a Varig flight to Brazil using the name Grace O’Malley.” At this Jenny started laughing. 

 

“That’s funny, Director?” Gibbs spoke, voicing both their annoyance. 

 

“Grace O’Malley was a 16th century Irish pirate. What’s her bid?” 

 

“Less than La Grenouille. Only 18 mil,” Tony saw the relief in Jenny’s stature at that. 

 

Apparently Gibbs did too, “unless her bid was in Euros.” He then stalked off, leaving them with that tidbit of information to stew over. 

 

Tony glanced back to McGee’s computer, “dollars. It was in dollars.” Jenny sighed in relief. “Think he’ll ever forgive us?”

 

“Send me a hard copy when the data’s in.” She then stalked off and Tony sighed to himself. 

 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Tony rested his head against the computer monitor a moment before he hopped back over to his desk. Gibbs came back from the head and they shared a nod. So far, their plan to play Jenny had gone flawlessly. Now they just had to tow the line between getting fired, getting dead, and getting out of this whole situation scott-free. 

 

***

A mere twenty minutes later, they get a call from McGee saying they need to process a crime scene. The crime scene of one Mr. Harrow. Naturally Gibbs and Tony head out to the rest of their team’s location. A bit out of the ordinary is that Jenny came along. Once they all arrived, Jenny wasted no time in ripping Probie and Mossad Ninja a new one. 

 

“You were supposed to keep Mr. Harrow under surveillance, not chase him into a coronary.” Tony looked to Gibbs, he nodded and Tony went back to his work of photographing the crime scene. 

 

“Director, once he made us we had to take him into custody, didn’t we?” Tony had a moment of pride at his Probie for standing up to the Director in all her fury, without flinching.  _ Now, if only you can face Gibbs in full fury. _ Tony smiled to himself at the thought.

 

“No, the director is right. We could’ve let Harrow escape. If he sold ARES, we could’ve caught Black Rose or La Grenouille selling it to Iran or Syria…”  _ Glad we updated McGee and Ziva on the bidders. _

 

“Don’t get cute, Officer David. I’m saying there had to be a better way. Right Tony?” Her gaze zeroed in on him and he almost laughed out loud at the thought that he would side with her over Gibbs. Tony stayed silent and stood at his place behind Gibbs. 

 

“They could have shot him. Of course in high octane situations, Ziva reverts back to her Mossad training, and probably would’ve put a round through his heart,” Gibbs shrugged.

 

“Three rounds,” Ziva nodded her confirmation.

Gibbs continued, “and McGee, not to be outdone, would’ve-”

 

“Added three more rounds.” McGee picked up where he was supposed to. 

 

“Gibbs,” Jenny shook her head angrily. 

 

“See? There you go. Six rounds, same result: one dead Mr. Harrow.”

 

Not knowing the tension he was walking into, Ducky came to their little group, “I signed for the body. Cause of death was most likely, uh… am I interrupting?”

 

“Not at all, Doctor. We were just discussing the various ways NCIS could have killed Mr. Harrow besides chasing him to death.” Jenny growled out and Tony took an involuntary step forward to redirect Jenny away from Ducky, but Gibbs’ hand closed around his wrist. Stilling him.

 

“I am interrupting,” Ducky turned to leave when Jenny bit out at him again.

 

“Doctor, ‘death was most likely caused by?” 

 

“A myocardial infarction. Most probably brought on by a combination of a high-fat western diet, little exercise and the mistaken belief that he could run up all those stairs. Rigorous for most, rigor mortis for him.” It was only from years of working with Gibbs and hiding his true feelings that Tony was able to hold back the snort of laughter at Ducky’s joke.

 

“Anything else?” 

 

“Not until I do the autopsy.” Jenny barely waited for Ducky to finish his sentence before storming off. “Ooh, What is going on?” Ducky shared a look with Tony.

 

_ Frog? _ Ducky quickly asked.

 

_ Frog. _ Tony quickly confirmed.

 

“I think the director is afraid Harrow’s family might sue us,” Tony flippantly answered out loud with a smile. 

 

Gibbs shot him a look with a half-smile, “well, whatever she’s thinking about, it’s not ARES.” With that statement, Gibbs moved through their group and Tony paired off with Ziva to head over to Harrow’s house to scour through the man’s belongings looking for ARES. 

 

***

Against Tony’s better judgement, he let Ziva drive. It gave Tony time to gather information on ARES. He pulled up the information and heard Ziva exclaim, “That’s ARES?”

 

“According to McGeek.” Without looking up from his laptop Tony knew that Ziva was looking at the laptop screen instead of the road, “Ziva! Watch the road!”

 

“I have great peripheral vision.” She defended as he knew she would.

 

“Yeah, well, my sphincter doesn’t,” Tony growled back at her. 

 

“Wll, at least we won’t have trouble finding it.”  _ My sphincter? _

 

“Really?” 

 

“Tony, it’s the size of an ATM!” 

 

Tony rolled his eyes and turned back to the computer, “well this is the controller console, and this…” He clicked a few buttons and up popped a picture of Jeanne.  _ Fuck. McGee! _

 

“Your mystery woman!” Ziva leaned close to the laptop and got a good look. 

 

Tony reached over and straightened her swerve, “watch the road.”

 

“Oh, yes it is, isn’t it? The woman you keep sneaking off to see, guess she helped you get over Gibbs?” She smiled and raised an eyebrow teasingly at Tony. 

 

“No, this is no one. This is McGee’s idea of a prank.” He quickly got the picture off the screen and pulled up his intended picture of the piece of electronic equipment they were looking for. “This is the pirated part of ARES we have to find.”

 

Ziva looked away from the road again and Tony internally groaned, “$20 million for that?!” 

 

“Well, size doesn’t matter.” The moment the words left his mouth Tony realized what he said and grimaced. “Forget I even stupidly started to say that.” 

 

The rest of the ride was in relative silence as Tony read up on the machine. Ziva was quiet until she pulled them up to Harrow’s house. “Will you tell me her name if I find the pirate’s copy of ARES?”

 

“Pirated copy.”

 

“That’s what I said.”

 

“No, you said, ‘Pirate’s copy.’ A pirate is a person like Captain Jack Sparrow. A pirated copy…”

 

“Who is Jack Sparrow?” 

 

_ Really? Ziva? You need to watch more movies. Teddy loves Cap’n Jack. _ “Johnny Depp.”

 

“He’s a pirate?” her voice took on this sultry hopeful tone. 

 

Tony nearly groaned aloud at that one. “No, he’s an actor.”

 

“Oh.” The way she said it made him feel like she was just messing with him with the whole Johnny Depp Pirate thing.

 

“How did we get here?”

 

Ziva walked ahead of him to open the door first. “I drove.” They walked in and Tony instinctively backed himself against the wall farthest from the electronics before he remembered his tattoo.  _ Fuck, I love magic. _ “This is going to be like looking for a needle in a needle stack.”

 

Tony focused on putting on his gloves,  _ technically her analogy isn’t wrong. _ But he had to correct her. “Needle in a Haystack.” It was just natural to correct her idioms by now. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs left the scene of Harrow’s death and thought how best to approach Jenny. She was way out of line at the scene, plus he really hadn’t liked how she had tore into McGee and Ziva for doing their damn jobs. In the past he had approached her head on and that only ended with him being yelled at and told that it said her name over the Director’s door, not his. 

 

_ Need a new approach.  _ He mulled over his coffee at the stand just outside NCIS as he sat on a nearby bench.  _ She acted like… well, me. When I went after Ari. and that got Kate killed.  _ He felt a stab of guilt pierce him and seconds later the wallet in his pocket warmed and Nathair’s voice rang through his head. 

 

_ Not your fault. _

 

Gibbs nodded to himself as if in response to Nathair’s reminder.  _ Right, not the issue at hand. Jenny. She’s going so hard after the Frog that she’s not seeing the people around her. She’s not caring about any potential threats to national security. She’s focused solely on this Frog.  _

 

A thought occurred to him out of the blue,  _ what would Tony do?  _ Gibbs’ brow furrowed in thought and remembered that through the whole Ari fiasco, Tony had been there to reel him back.  _ How the hell had he done it? _

 

The aroma of the caffeinated decoction hit him and he remembered.  _ Coffee! Tony made sure I was well caffeinated. He pulled my attention to him...made me laugh, at least on the inside. Maybe that’s how I get through to her.  _ Gibbs went to the stand once more and ordered two more cups of the bitter ambrosia and made his way through headquarters all the way to MTAC, where he knew Jenny was stewing to herself. 

 

He was glad the door had an easy handle to open with both his hands full of coffee. Various pictures flitted across the screen of MTAC and he took a second to think through his words. 

 

“Sitting in the dark, staring at photos of your enemies could be considered obsessive.” 

 

_ Not bad, still opens the door and calls her out on her shit without being aggressive. _ He placed the intended coffee in her cup holder and sat next to her. 

 

“Kind of like building a fourth boat, when you haven’t even sailed the first three.” Jenny countered.

 

He let a smile quirk his lips,  _ the boats served their purpose. _ “How well do you know The Black Rose?”  _ Go for the less volatile topic.  _

 

“Well enough to know that I’d like her if she wasn’t an arms dealer.”

 

The picture changed to the true topic of the conversation and he put words to it, “and The Frog?” Jenny turned her head and stared at him as if she wanted to hit him just then. “La Grenouille. It means, ‘the frog.’”

 

“I know what it means,” she turned her murderous stare to the big screen of MTAC. 

 

“Then why don’t you call him that?” 

 

“La Grenouille is his code name.” She sounded as if she were forcing herself to remain civil, but he could tell that she was hanging by a thread. He needed to push her more,  _ what would Tony do? _

 

“Well, I’m going to call him ‘Frog.’” He then croaked rather toad-like a couple of times before Jenny looked back at him.

 

“Spit it out, Jethro, before it gags you.” Her stare still murderous as she now glared at him. 

 

_ Fine,  _ “You were out of control today. Why? The deal died with Harrow.”

 

“His copy of ARES might still be in play.”

 

_ Yeah ,that sounded weak even to him. _ “You don’t want ARES, you want him.” Gibbs nodded his head toward the screen which was currently showing yet another picture of the Frog. 

 

“Damn right, I want him! I have been trying for a decade to bring him down.”

 

“So it is personal. What did he do to you, Jenny?” 

 

“You have no need to know, Special Agent Gibbs.”  _ And now she’s shut down, realized she’s said more than she ever intended. Well, I’m not going to get anything else out of her right now.  _ Gibbs nodded his head and left MTAC, heading back for the bullpen and his desk. 

 

***

Gibbs called for an update and McGee bounded over with the remote as the team gathered before the main plasma of their circle. “The software was stored on micro-drives hidden in condoms. We analyzed every detail, the source code, to the circuitry of the motherboard-”

 

“McGee.” Gibbs prodded his agent.

 

“It’s like PS3, you can’t play ‘Killzone’ without the hardware to run it.”

 

Gibbs blinked at his techno-savvy agent, “PS3?”

 

“Game console. Atari? Commodore 64?”

 

“The software is useless without the hardware.” 

 

“You got it.”

 

“Why didn’t you just say that?” He could practically hear McGee cursing him out in the privacy of the man’s head over GIbbs and his relationship with technology.  _ Just because I don’t like changing my phone every six months to the newest model when all I use the damn thing for is calls anyway.  _

 

Just then Jenny walked into his domain, “You found ARES?”

 

McGee snapped his attention to the approaching Director, “Yes, here it is, Director. Live from Abby’s lab.”

 

“You don’t seem very happy.” Gibbs smirked at her as she ignored him.

 

“Any more bids?” 

 

“Nope.” Tony responded. “La Grenouille was the high one. Not that it matters.”

 

“Did Harrow arrange the drop-off?” Jenny shot off almost before Tony had finished speaking. Gibbs sauntered back to his desk and started looking through his paper copies as Jenny led his team.

 

“I checked his Blackberry. This guy writes down every appointment and meeting, nothing.” McGee listed off. Gibbs had a feeling that they weren’t done with Harrow just yet.

 

“No phone calls or e-mails in the last six hours before he died,” Ziva 

 

“We were monitoring his…” McGee trailed off before he realized, “He had coffee. The cafe had internet access.”

 

“Trimana Cafe, 35th street,” Ziva supplied for McGee.”

 

McGee began to mutter to himself what he was doing,  _ bad habit for a hacker to be in McGee. Even I know that. _ He glanced to where Tony had leaned over Tim’s desk next to Ziva. Gibbs’ eyes narrowed,  _ too close.  _

 

“Can you do this to anyone’s e-mail?” He heard Tony ask and there was an element to his tone that told Gibbs, Tony wasn’t necessarily thinking of himself with that question.

 

Tim sighed before explaining, “no, because this is highly illegal and I’m not even doing it now. Okay, we’re in. At 1:40 this afternoon, Harrow sent two emails from that ISP, one to Black Rose…”

 

“Telling her the bad news, no doubt.” Ziva pointed out. 

 

“And one to La Grenouille.” Gibbs watched Jenny’s body language closely as McGee read the email, “‘Congratulations on the winning bid. Upon receipt of your funds, title to the Santorini Villa at-’ he lists the GPS coordinates.- ‘will be transferred at midnight, Tuesday.’” 

 

Jenny looked at her watch before Ziva told her that Greece was in the same Time Zone as Israel and the transfer is supposed to happen in ten minutes. That is, until Gibbs told McGee to put the email up on the plasma. He glanced at the coordinates and pointed out, “those coordinates aren’t in Greece.” 

 

McGee used his computer to tell them that it was in fact in Quebec. Gibbs noticed that Tony had kept quiet and hadn’t even looked at the plasma.  _ He knew where the coordinates were, why didn’t he say something? Doesn’t he normally crow at any opportunity to show how good he is? Get that pat on the back? Is he holding back? How long has he been holding back?  _

 

“We’ve got five hours,” Jenny announced as if they were going to run an undercover op to catch the Frog.

 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Gibbs pointed out as he pondered over Tony’s actions. 

 

Jenny turned back and glared at him, “I am not going to let a few miles of Canadian border stop me.”

 

“That’s not what I meant,”  _ rather glaringly obvious problem. _ “The Frog is expecting to meet Harrow. And Charles Harrow is dead.”

 

Jenny glared at him, “we’ll think of something. McGee, I want you to find what is at those coordinates.”

 

“On it, boss.” Gibbs closed his eyes and let go the possessiveness he felt for his team, “sorry.” Tim apologized for his slip.  _ Tim responds that way to authority, it’s how Tony and I conditioned him.  _ Gibbs reminded himself that Jenny was way too close to this and he had to keep her as level as possible, that was part of being on a team.  _ Granted, she’s hijacking my team, again. _ Gibbs looked up and stared directly into Tony’s eyes. 

 

_ You keep me even, now I gotta do the same for my boss.  _

 

If he hadn’t been looking for it, he wouldn’t have seen the miniscule nod that Tony gave while staring straight back at Gibbs. 

 

“Got it, Aeroport de Sherbrooke, southeastern Quebec. It’s 30 miles across the border from New Hampshire. That puts La Grenouille right in our backyard.” Tim explained as he zoomed in on the pictures he had found and everyone gathered before the plasma, Gibbs coming out from behind his desk. 

 

“Did I miss Quebec becoming the 51st state?” Gibbs grimaced at McGee. 

 

Jenny spoke up behind him, he didn’t bother to look, he felt the glare she was sending his way, “I’m not going to watch that bastard fly away again, Jethro.” 

 

“Again?” Gibbs asked sarcastically before he went back to his desk. 

 

“Why don’t we snatch him when he lands, toss him in the back of the car and drive over the border?” 

 

Tim balked at Ziva’s plan, “That might work where you grew up, Ziva, not here.”

 

“Why not?” Jenny arched an eyebrow in McGee’s direction. Gibbs met Tony’s glance and Tony took over the planning. 

 

“Okay, I’m down with the border snatch. What do we charge him with? Bidding on a Greek villa?”  _ How does Tony do this? Keeping Jenny from doing something stupid is hard enough, I can’t imagine how Tony deals with me. _

 

“Tony’s right,” McGee agreed, “we’ve got nothing on Grenouille until he buys ARES.”

 

“And since Harrow’s dead, that can’t happen.” Tony glanced back at Gibbs and an idea popped into his head. Gibbs narrowed his eyes at his SFA, who raised an eyebrow and shrugged a shoulder.  _ Not a bad idea, DiNozzo.  _

 

“Does the Frog know that Harrow’s dead?” Gibbs asked, getting the rest of the team thinking along his and Tony’s wave length. 

 

Ziva smiled slyly, “probably not.” 

 

“And if he never met him…” Tim trailed off. 

 

Jenny picked up the sentence, “all we need is a 68-year-old Englishman.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Is it pronounced ‘Harrow’ or ‘Hairrow’?” Tony just barely kept himself from laughing as Ducky questioned the team about his ‘Character.’ The only thing that kept the laughter inside was the glare that Ducky sent his way every now and then which said.  _ What the devil have you gotten me into? _

 

“Harrow, Ducky.” Ziva smiled as she placed a fake moustache over Ducky’s lip and it unpleasantly reminded him of Gibbs’ minor stint with the furry monstrosity. “Charles Andrew Harrow.” 

 

Tim continued to try to teach the elder wizard about the technology of ARES. Tony didn’t bother telling Tim that Ducky would be wearing an earwig and Tim could talk right into Ducky’s ear,  _ where would the fun be in that? _

 

“Are- are you certain? ‘Cause I went to medical school with an Ian Hairrow. He spelled it the same way.” Tony mentally shook his head as he listened to Tim try to redirect Ducky back to the technology talk and Tony was glad that he had told Ducky about Mick and his tattoos. 

 

“You look dashing, Ducky,” Ziva complemented Ducky. 

 

“Yes, I used to wear a moustache in Singapore when I was attached to-” 

 

Tim cut in again, “ARES is an encryption decryption system. Means it is used to encode and decode information. In this case, GPS targeting information for the Navy’s cruise missiles.”

 

“It operates by using the algorithm known as IDEA. It’s the same algorithm used for all RSA Legacy keys generated by PGP.” Tony had no idea why Abby was going along with explaining it all to Ducky, she knew better. He shrugged it off as Abby having her fun as well. 

 

At the end of the explanation McGee asked if Ducky had any questions thus far, he merely responded with, “you sure it’s not Hairrow?” 

 

Tony let out a snort at that as Gibbs and Jenny came walking up. “It’s a ten hour drive to the Canadian border, we’re going to have to go without a surveillance van,” He succinctly informed them. 

 

“I’ve got it covered,” something in him twinged at Jenny’s words and he looked to Gibbs for reassurance. 

 

“She’s got it covered, how?”

 

Gibbs stood close, leaning over his desk, “Let’s just say it’s a favor you and I couldn’t have called in.” Gibbs raised an eyebrow in question. Gibbs wanted answers about the Ducky Idea. That Idea had been a stroke of genius on his part. He had volunteered to get Ducky for the Harrow assignment and had talked with the Doctor about going undercover and confirming Eris Malfoy’s involvement with La Grenouille. Tony had made sure to explain the risks to him, to which Ducky had sat through patiently with a wry smile on his lips. 

 

“Ducky can take care of himself boss,” Tony reminded him. 

 

Gibbs shot him a look before they both snapped to watch Ziva pretend to ‘fumble’ ARES, she chuckled, “I find a little levity at the start of a mission relaxing.”

 

“At least your way of maintaining  _ levity _ doesn’t give everyone heart attacks.” Gibbs muttered under his breath before he headed over to look at the plasma. Tony felt a swell of pride in his chest at the quiet praise, he barely kept his smile in check as Tim approached Gibbs.

 

“Boss, we got a problem.”

 

“Just one, McGee?” Gibbs sneered with a raised eyebrow. 

 

“Grenouille is sure to have someone there to vet ARES. You know, if someone asks Ducky to explain something, his duck is cooked, no pun intended.” 

 

Gibbs turned back and faced McGee, he nodded seriously before speaking, “well...that’s why you’re going to be there with him, McGee.”

 

Abby pulled Ducky forward and straightened his lapels, “now, remember Ducky-”

 

“Charles,” Ducky corrected her. 

 

“What?” 

 

Ducky nodded to her seriously, “my name is Charles Harrow.” Abby gave him a hug before Jenny called for the team to leave. 

 

“Charles, we’ve got a plane to catch.”

 

Ducky pulled from Abby’s arms and turned to face Jenny, “and an arms dealer.” If Tony looked closely he could almost see a sly cockiness to his stride. That is before he ‘shifted’ back to ‘Ducky’ and humbly walked towards her, “Uh, mind if I have the window seat? I do so rather love to fly.”

 

Tony and Gibbs were both smiling as Jenny turned back to look at them with a bewildered look on her face. Ducky’s words reminded Tony that he really needed to take Gibbs out flying sometime. See how he liked it.  _ Heh, maybe it could be a first date.  _ Tony chuckled to himself as an image of Gibbs riding on a broom behind him popped into his head.

 

***

Tony was teamed up with Ziva in ‘Archangel’ position. “Gulf stream Five. Registration: 2-1-8 Echo.”

 

“Copy you, Archangel.” McGee confirmed.  

 

“They flew into Washington on a different G-5 when I tagged their luggage.” He mostly said it for Ducky’s benefit for  _ their _ undercover operation. 

 

“Tagged their luggage?” Ziva off-handedly asked as she watched the jet through her scope. “Oh, that’s when Jenny had you, uh… under covers.”

 

Tony tossed her a side-ways glance, “Undercover, not under covers.”

 

“And the mystery girl, rather odd timing. This secret mission from Jenny tagging luggage, right as you meet a new girl you hide from us and don’t brag about.” Ziva looked to him with a raised eyebrow, to which he responded with a silent glower.

 

“218 Echo is a Srbonne Air Charter out of Orly Sud. It’s been refueled and flight plan filed. TOD: 2400.” McGee listed off.

 

Tony heard Gibbs speak next and felt a moment of relief that his boss was not in the undercover role and recklessly risking his life, like he normally was. “35 Minutes. This is your Op, Director.” 

 

“Bring Ducky online.” Jenny’s voice at least sounded calm and collected. 

 

McGee called for a sound check and Tony almost laughed as Ducky complained, “Ugh, now I know why they call these wretched things ‘earwigs.’”

 

“Make the exchange, Doctor, and get out. I don’t want you caught in the middle of a firefight.” _ Jenny almost sounded concerned about Ducky.  _ Tony allowed himself a moment of bitterness over the amount of concerned allotted Ducky versus himself where Jenny was concerned. 

 

“That’s very considerate of you, Director.” From Ducky’s tone, Tony could tell the elder wizard felt similarly. 

 

Jenny said her thanks and Ducky began the Op. Ducky got through the gate and proceeded to complain about the security until he was stopped by one of Frog’s henchmen. Tony looked through his own scope and saw that it was one of Frog’s entourage whose luggage he had tagged. “Martin Quinn, he flew in with La Grenouille’s advance entourage two months ago.” Jenny supplied over the comms.

 

“Open the trunk, please.” Martin asked for Ducky to pop the trunk. 

 

“And you wanted to hide in the boot.” Ziva teased him.

 

_ Well, it would have worked. I do have a rare Invisibility Cloak that is one of the Deathly Hallows, but whatever.  _ “You didn’t take me seriously, did you?”

 

Ducky drove the vehicle up to the plane and followed Martin up the steps of the plane. Tony watched Kort carefully and saw the younger wizard squint as he questioned whether Ducky was Charles Harrow. Jenny warned that Ducky may have been compromised and Tony mumbled under his breath.  _ Shit, how could I have forgotten that Kort sussed me out as a wizard back at the airport.  _

 

Tony thought quickly, “Ducky, dico suus ‘Eris eum.” 

 

Ziva looked sharply to Tony as Ducky conveyed the message to Kort. “Je suis un ami d’Eris.” Kort gave Ducky a long look before he leaned into the plane and looked to someone inside before he leaned back out. 

 

Kort nodded once and questioned, “you have ARES?”

 

Ducky, without missing a beat, “you have the 20 million?”

 

Gibbs chuckled lightly, “he’s a natural.”

 

“Maybe, but he’s making me nervous, what was that whole bit about Eris?” Jenny questioned just as Kort called inside. 

 

“Lady Eris?” A woman appeared in the doorway and Tony zeroed his magic in on her form. Her magic had a similar feel to Draco’s, but was definitely stronger than her nephew. She had the same platinum blonde hair as her brother and nephew, however it was pulled into a tight bun with two tendrils to frame her angular face. 

 

“Ah, mon ami. C’est bon de te voir.” Eris continued in french as she questioned Ducky.  _ “Though I do have to ask how you found me. I haven’t been a part of the magical community for many years.” _

 

_ “Ah, neither have I my friend. I heard rumors that you were helping this ‘La Grenouille’ and I simply had to take the opportunity. Perhaps we could have tea together?” _

 

Eris smiled softly,  _ “ah, my friend, I am sorry, but I am simply too busy at this time for such pleasantries. Maybe when I am next in the country. _ ”

 

“Ducky,” Jenny growled in their ears.

 

“Completely understandable, my dear. Here, I’m sure you wish to verify the product, so to speak?” Ducky smiled charmingly again and Tony cursed in his head that Eris hadn’t taken Ducky up on the offer of tea. It would have been a good opportunity to gather information about what the hell she was doing to the world. 

 

“This is ARES?” Eris rose a disdained eyebrow that reminded Tony of her family all too well. 

 

“Never judge a computer by it’s shell, my dear.” Eris chuckled knowingly.

 

“Password?” 

 

“Raven.” 

 

“Satellite uplink?” 

 

Tony listened as McGee fed Ducky lines concerning the computer and turned his scope back to Eris’ face.  _ Oh yeah, something’s up. They know that Ducky isn’t Harrow, but neither one of them have warned Frog. _ Eris took the computer into the Jet and Ducky made the tactical decision to mistake Kort for their arms dealer. It was then that their Frog revealed himself dramatically. 

 

Ducky fell into his role of Charles Harrow and charmed the french arms dealer. Tony relaxed a bit even as Jenny got continually more and more upset as the conversation moved into the car and they shared a drink. Shortly after they had their first sips, the engines started up and Kort headed for the car. 

 

Kort opened it up and Tony heard Kort inform Frog that ‘Regine’ approved.  _ So she goes by Regine with our Frog. _ He filed it away to look up when they got back and then things began to move a little faster. Jenny couldn’t make a decision between what Tony guessed was either snatching the Frog or killing him. 

 

Turned out that Frog was protected and they were ordered to stand down. He heard the frustration in Jenny’s voice and Kort then called Ducky by his name. After that the plane took off and the team regrouped. Jenny was silent as she glared furiously at the ground. 

 

Ducky pulled the car up to the group, “he knew my name.” Ducky shot a meaningful look to Tony, who nodded in understanding of the implications for their end. 

 

“He’s CIA,” Tony explained to him. 

 

“So was Harrow,” Ziva continued, completely missing the looks that Tony and Ducky sent each other. 

 

McGee also missed the looks and sighed, “it was a sting.”

 

Gibbs shrugged, “we got stung.” 

 

“No. We got screwed.”

 

“One question,” Ducky held up the bag of diamonds. “What do I do with these?” Ducky smiled as the rest of the team, minus Jenny, smiled at Ducky’s joke.

 

Tony and Gibbs shared a look at Jenny’s actions and as the group began to head to their ride Gibbs pulled Tony back. Tony looked to Gibbs as his boss merely raised an eyebrow. “Yep, figured I was going to get your ‘Lucy’ look.” Gibbs’ brow furrowed in annoyance. “You know, ‘Lucy, you got some ‘splainin to do.’?” Gibbs’ look turned exasperated. “Yeah, it’s a magic thing, I’ll come over and explain. Didn’t really have time to explain everything and run this secondary Op by you.” Gibbs nodded and turned to lead them on their way out.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs felt the smoothness of the wood as he thought over the events of their most recent Op. He didn’t like that Tony and Ducky were working some kind of ‘magical’ angle without him knowing. He didn’t like that Tony had apparently sent him the idea to send Ducky undercover,  _ with his mind _ . Tony had said he was abnormal among wizards as far as power went, but he had a feeling that there were things about Magic he hadn’t been told about yet, including mental magic. 

 

“Hey, boss.” Tony’s voice cut across the quiet of the basement. Gibbs whipped around and glared at his SFA. He hadn’t heard the other man enter his home,  _ probably some kind of teleportation thing. _ Tony chuckled nervously and ran his hand through his hair. “Tried to think of the best way to explain the legitamens shit that went on today. Then I realized I had totally forgotten about apparation, then-”

 

Gibbs cleared his throat, “DiNozzo.” 

 

“Right, rambling, sorry boss.” Gibbs nodded seriously and emptied one of his jars before he poured in a couple of healthy fingers worth of alcohol to soothe Tony’s nerves. 

 

“Seems like you need to start this story from the beginning.” 

 

Tony grimaced, “Yeah, that might be a bit hard to do at 2200, boss.” Gibbs gave Tony a look and settled in with his sander as Tony got himself comfortable. “Fine. Guess I should start Story Time with the fact that I wasn’t born Anthony Dominic DiNozzo Jr.” Gibbs’ rhythm of sanding didn’t hesitate as it slid over the wood. “I was born Harry James Potter.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so if any artistic fans of this fic want to do any comic pages or just fan art of it, you could totally email it to me at rb82837@gmail.com and I'll post it without saying who did what if you want, or explicitly saying who did what if you wanted. Again, comments are welcome and I love hearing from you guys.


	21. Friends and Lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long since an update, hope it was worth the wait. :)

***Previously***

_ “Seems like you need to start this story from the beginning.”  _

_ Tony grimaced, “Yeah, that might be a bit hard to do at 2200, boss.” Gibbs gave Tony a look and settled in with his sander as Tony got himself comfortable. “Fine. Guess I should start Story Time with the fact that I wasn’t born Anthony Dominic DiNozzo Jr.” Gibbs’ rhythm of sanding didn’t hesitate as it slid over the wood. “I was born Harry James Potter.”  _

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The silence stretched between them as Gibbs continued his rhythmic sanding. He knew Tony,  _ Harry _ , needed some time to gather his thoughts into cohesiveness. Then again, Gibbs was benefitting from the silence as well. There was obviously something that had happened to make the man before him go into hiding. To get away from the person that was  _ Harry Potter. _

“I was fifteen months old when my parents were targeted by a wizard terrorist that had the moniker of ‘Voldemort’.” Gibbs glanced over his boat and raised an eyebrow at his SFA. “Yeah, I know. Bad guys and their code names. This one is the terrorist I was telling you guys about at Luna’s party. See, Voldemort wasn’t necessarily at my house that night to kill my parents. Sure, they were there and they died, but they weren’t his goal. I was.” 

Gibbs put down his sander and indicated the drinks he had poured earlier. Tony drank it down like a shot before he hung his head in his hands. “My parents were killed because one of Voldemort’s followers overheard _part_ of a damn _prophecy_ that was spoken in a rare moment of _true_ _sight_ by a hack that can’t teach divination without ‘predicting’ someone’s death by the end of the week.”

He silently poured another glass for Tony and turned back to his boat. “After that, I grew up in a perfectly normal household. Mother, Father, even a son they were proud of.” Tony twirled the undrank second glass in his hands. “Perfectly normal in every way. Except for the  _ freak _ nephew they kept hidden away in a cupboard.”

“Tony,” Gibbs’ gentle voice made Tony’s head snap up and Gibbs could see the restrained fury, pain, and  _ want _ in his SFA’s eyes. The want of approval, for a family, for people he could trust. He also saw the truth in his Agent’s eyes. The man had grown up in that cupboard, he didn’t know the details, but this man had grown up used to being ignored and shoved into small dark spaces. Those spaces were most likely physical and emotional. Tony was used to being ignored. 

“Wasn’t till I went to school that I was called anything other than ‘boy’ or ‘freak’ guess that’s why I’m so good at Undercover work. Never really had a base identity to begin with.” Tony smiled deprecatingly at himself. 

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs warned the man sitting on his steps.

“Right, well, it wasn’t till I was eleven that I found out I was a wizard. Anytime any accidental magic happened around me, my Aunt and Uncle always punished me for it, told me I was a freak, and that there was ‘no such thing as magic.’ But when you turn eleven and a literal half-giant walks through your door, tells you that you’re a wizard and makes fire come out of his umbrella to light the fireplace? You tend to believe him.” 

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at that, “Giants?”

“Yeah, they’re roughly fifteen to twenty feet tall. Kind of stupid, like to stick to the mountainous areas. Never really looked, but there probably are some in the Rocky’s, maybe. Not a good idea to seek Giants out, they tend to have a bit of a temper and aren’t big fans of humans.” 

“Magical creatures?”

“Yep, a whole slew of them.” Tony nodded to himself a moment and the silence was eventually interrupted by Gibbs working on his boat once more. “Anyway, come to find out that the event that killed my parents named me ‘The Boy Who Lived.’ See, there’s this curse, it’s called the killing curse. It kills you.” Gibbs shot him a baleful look. “Among the Mundane, it looks like a Heart Attack, so unless your coroner is a wizard, no way of detecting how the victim died.”

That caused Gibbs to pause in his actions and think for a moment. “In the six years I’ve been at NCIS, there have been exactly four cases that the cause of death was the killing curse. In which cases, Ducky informed the team that it was a natural heart attack and he reported it to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. From there they use magical means to track down the killer and the bad guy was caught.”

“Wizards always catch their perps?”

Tony shrugged, “usually. We use physical evidence, such as DNA, and use it to track the killer.”

“The case last year, Halloween-”

“Little girl didn’t have magic. Locator spells don’t work as well on mundanes, no magical core for the spell to latch onto. There are ways to do it, but whatever you use as a foci for the mundane has to literally have their blood, sweat, and tears worked into the object. People get suspicious when you ask them for things like that.”

Gibbs looked down at his boat thoughtfully, and Tony felt the urge to explain, “more like your tools. Not the boat. But a locator spell works just fine for you.” Gibbs’ gaze snapped to Tony who looked away guiltily. “Ducky and I had a theory for a long time. That you’re not just a really good Mundane Investigator, but that you’re actually what’s called a Squib and your magical core manifested as your famous ‘gut.’ So a squib is actually a wizard whose magical core wasn’t strong enough to manifest as actual magic, but instead as a super charged ability. Like a track runner that can run super fast.”

“Or an investigator who just seems to  _ know _ about people?”

“Or...that.”

That tidbit of information seemed to sit weird with Gibbs, he was glad that Tony didn’t look surprised when he switched the subject back to their first topic. “So, why were you dubbed The Boy Who Lived?”

Tony’s shoulders slumped as if the weight of the entire world had suddenly fallen on them, “I survived the killing curse. Not supposed to be possible, I mean, it’s kind of in the title,  _ Killing _ Curse, ya know? Lucky me, curse rebounded and hit Voldemort instead. I became known as The Boy Who Lived because a curse rebounded off of a fifteen month old baby and the Wizarding Community in England raised me up on a pedestal. There wasn’t a single person I met, from old man, to adorable little child tugging on their mom’s skirt, who didn’t immediately recognize me, call me that damn moniker, and ask to see the damn scar left by the curse.”

“Scar?” The only scar that Gibbs knew of that could fit the was in Tony’s file was a lightning bolt shaped thing on his hip.   _ Though why I know that specifically about my SFA is another question for another time. _

“Yeah, I ritualistically moved it from it’s original place to my hip.” Gibbs raised his eyebrow in mild curiosity. “It was on my freaking forehead. Kind of hard to go into hiding with a glaring neon sign on my forehead telling everyone who I am.” 

Gibbs nodded his agreement of Tony’s assessment of such a scar,  _ magic is rather useful in that aspect, I guess. _ A niggling thought crossed his mind that Nathair had a similar scar,  _ didn’t he? _

Suddenly, Tony stiffened and Gibbs heard a sort of whisper say, “ _ it is late, Harry. You both need rest _ .” Gibbs looked around his basement for a bit before his eyes settled on Tony. The man looked exhausted,  _ how have I not noticed how ragged he is? _ Tony sat on the steps of his basement and Gibbs wondered if the man even wanted to leave. 

“Take the guest room,” the words left Gibbs’ mouth before he had a chance to think it over, but found he didn’t regret the offer. 

Tony looked up at him with gratitude and nodded once before standing and slowly trudging up the stairs. At the doorway to the kitchen, he stopped and leaned back to look down at Gibbs, “thanks boss. Don’t stay up too late, working on that boat. Doesn’t look good when the boss is late.” With that, Tony turned around and left Gibbs to chuckle at his joke.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

His eyes snapped open to the darkness of Gibbs’ spare room. His ears strained for any sound as a hint as to what had woken him. He heard a soft breath before he felt a weight dip onto the bed. The scent of sawdust and coffee permeated his senses and he felt his muscles reflexively relax. “Jet,” he breathed a sigh.

“Nathair,” Jet’s voice caressed his ear and he let out a pained groan at the confirmation that this was just a dream. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back to normal routine, back to life without Jet in his reality. Tony didn’t want to be at work that day in the first place. It was it’s own brand of torture to dream of the man he loved, then to work with the same man and be unable to act on any of what he wanted to do. Instead he silently ate his cereal as Ziva taught her ‘Knife Throwing Basics’ class. 

“Every knife has its own individual balance. The trick is to find it. When you do…” Ziva threw her knife as an example. “You get this. Any questions?” She gave him a look as he continued to eat his cereal. 

“Gibbs really approved this?” McGee asked.  _ Of course he did, it’s not a bad skill to have. Good thing Sirius had a thing for throwing knives.  _

“Never know when you’re going to get expelliarmus’d,” Sirius’ translucent form rocked back on his heels as he watched the proceedings. 

“Yes, McGee. Why do you keep on asking that?” Ziva sounded a little exasperated. 

Sirius shrugged, “well, that  _ is _ the third time he’s asked. What I want to know is how the hell did you rope Probie Lee into this.” Tony risked a quick glare to Sirius. “Law-Lee?” Tony rolled his eyes at his Godfather. 

“Well, because they give us Sigs for a reason,” Tim defended himself. 

“In Mossad, we have a saying: Knives don’t run out of bullets. Now, any questions pertaining to this particular class?”

“Wonder if Ziva’s ever killed someone with a spoon?” That question from Sirius had him smiling to himself and asking her the question. She glared her way over to him and stabbed the knife down next to his cereal bowl. 

“No, but I’m seriously considering it.” Sirius began clapping enthusiastically as Ziva told them to line up and practice throwing. 

“Alright, grab your knives. So, you come right past your ear. Once your arm is fully extended, you release.” Tony continued to crunch his cereal loudly. “Tony!” Ziva called for him to demonstrate first, so he stabbed his spoon into his Fruit Loops and casually picked up one of the knives. 

“Alright, watch and learn, Probie-sans.” 

“Probie-sans, nice one. Head, crotch, or that area with the 5x?” Sirius continued to heckle him as he lined up his shot. He threw the knife and carefully hit the center of the target, below the 5x area, but well above the crotch.

Ziva stared at the target in shock for a moment. He offered no explanation and quietly went back to his cereal. “H-how?”

“Godfather,” was all he said in answer for how he was able to throw the knife so well. 

“What, you learned to throw knives by watching a movie?” McGee asked incredulously. 

Tony rolled his eyes, “no, my Godfather taught me.” He dug back into his cereal and didn’t tease McGee when he completely failed to hit the target. 

However, when Lee stepped up to the plate, something told Tony to stand by the elevator, so he took his cereal bowl and quietly crossed the back of the evidence garage. Lee went to throw her knife and let go of it just as Gibbs came walking off the elevator. Gibbs stepped right into Tony’s backside as Lee’s knife embedded itself into a crate near Tony’s head. 

Ziva’s eyes widened and she stepped up to Michelle, “I thought you said you grew up around weapons?”

“I did. I didn’t say my father actually let me touch any of them.” Lee sounded horrified that she had nearly hit Tony, let alone nearly hitting Gibbs if he hadn’t walked into Tony.

It was then that Tony noticed that Gibbs was still standing behind him, very closely. Gibbs’ lips lightly brushed across his ear, “there a reason you were standing here, DiNozzo?”

“Nope, no reason at all,” he ducked his head and walked around Gibbs, heading into the elevator, sticking his leg out to hold the door open.

“Uh, it’s my fault, Gibbs.” Ziva began to try to explain. 

“Save it.” Gibbs then yanked the knife out of the crate. “We’ve got a dead sailor in Georgetown. Grab your gear.” The rest of the team moved into the elevator and Tony watched as Gibbs casually flipped the knife around to hand back to Lee. 

Lee squeaked out a “thank you,” and the team was off in the elevator. Tony gulped down the rest of the milk from his cereal and he got the feeling that Gibbs was watching. 

“Oh, yeah, honey. He’s watching you swallow that _white_ _creamy milk_ ,” the comment from Tonks would have had him spewing out said milk, but since it was mostly down anyway he only coughed. He risked a glance to Gibbs to see the man holding back a smirk of amusement, Tony could only guess that Gibbs was laughing at him and rolled his eyes at his ghostly peanut gallery. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They were met by two detectives who were quick, concise, and left them a damn near pristine crime scene.  _ Ah, now if only every detective we met could be like these two.  _ Apparently a couple and found the victim due to the prospective husband wanting to propose where they had had their first date. 

“Well, nothing says ‘I love you,’ like a rotting corpse in an abandoned crap hole.” Gibbs huffed a chuckle at Tony’s sarcasm. “What did she say?”

“She, um… says she wants this back before he changes his mind.”

Tony took the ring in the evidence bag and Gibbs watched as his SFA grimaced at the ring, but he noticed that the expression wasn’t quite as disgusted as Tony wanted the room to believe. He knew that no one would question Tony being uneasy around a wedding ring, but Gibbs could tell that Tony wasn’t as uncomfortable as he wanted the room to believe.

“And they say romance is dead.” Gibbs turned to Tony, but before he could say anything, Detective Morris continued his sitrep.

“Wallet was found next to the body. No money, no credit cards. Just a military ID and a driver’s license.” Morris handed the wallet over to Gibbs.

Gibbs collected the evidence, “robbed.”

“I’d like to know how he died, Agent Gibbs.” 

Gibbs nodded, “When I know, Detective Morris, you will know.” 

“I’d appreciate it.” Gibbs saw Morris signal for his partner to get the statements and he nodded to Tony. He heard Tony joke about marriage with the other cop and Gibbs was reminded of how easily Tony made friends, on the surface. It made Gibbs wonder how well  _ Harry _ had made friends at Hogwarts.

Gibbs noticed that as soon as McGee had walked in the room and saw the maggots, he had stopped. He smiled inwardly and took pictures while letting events play themselves out, knowing that the rest of his team would make McGee face his discomfort. 

“The larval stage of the Musca domestica- the common housefly, a nuisance to most, but invaluable to the trained investigator.” Ducky handed the evidence jar to his assistant.

Palmer smiled as he took the jar, “not to mention a great source of protein.” Ducky gave Palmer a look. “Saw it on Discovery Channel. A documentary on survival training, Ziva gave some great insight when we watched it.” 

Ducky nodded in understanding, “ah, as I was saying, they should prove helpful in determining the time of death, unless, of course, my assistance decides to eat them with Ziva.” 

“Temperature and current size, Doc? These eggs couldn’t have been laid in his mouth more than a week ago.” Gibbs continued to take pictures until Ziva had finished her sketches. McGee still stood to the side, looking sick.

Ducky praised Gibbs’ knowledge of maggots before estimating that their dead body had been there somewhere between four and five days. The expected question of how their victim died left his lips on autopilot and Gibbs’ eyes glanced to the door that Tony had gone through earlier. 

“I have many ideas as to how he died, but with no obvious signs of trauma or injury, that will have to wait until we get him home. Let’s get the gurney, Mr. Palmer.” 

Ducky and Palmer left and Gibbs jerked his head away from the doorway and looked back over the body, he noticed something in the pocket and took a picture before pulling the pink thing out of the pocket. “McGee, what do you make of this?” 

“The word ‘disgusting’ comes to mind.” 

“I think he was talking about the card.” Ziva came around behind McGee and Gibbs handed her the camera when she had come into range. Gibbs nodded his head and McGee held up an empty evidence bag. He put the card in the bag and headed out after Tony, but not before telling McGee to bag any maggots he found.

He headed out to see Tony sitting in the car they had brought and the Local LEOs were gone. “You alright, DiNozzo?”   


Tony’s head whipped up to look at Gibbs, there was a moment where he looked around before he noticed that they were alone. Once that knowledge settled over Tony, his shoulders seemed to slump before they perked back up as if trying to portray an energy he didn’t have. “Yeah, boss. Never better.”

“Hey,” Gibbs leaned over Tony while he sat in the car, “What is it?”

Tony glanced up at Gibbs before he sighed and held up the engagement ring in the evidence bag. “Reminded me of what I’ll never have. I mean, look at my current ‘relationship’ I’m undercover dating the daughter of an arms dealer. I don’t exactly see that leading to marriage, boss.” 

“Ah, DiNozzo, this whole frog thing will be over and she’ll get over it.” Gibbs tried to be comforting and tell Tony what he thought the man wanted to hear, at least that’s what he thought Tony wanted to hear until the shoulders slumped again.

“What if I don’t want this to lead to marriage? Even then, look at the hours I work, I’d have to marry someone on the team just for that not to be a point of contention. Then we run into rule 12.” Tony leaned forward and placed his arms on the dash and laid his head on his arms. “Just going to wallow in my misery for a minute, don’t mind me, boss.” 

Something in Gibbs seemed to settle at the admission that Tony didn’t want to marry Frog’s daughter, but that same something told him that he needed to say something. “Some rules were made to be broken.” Gibbs turned and walked away, so he didn’t see Tony’s body snap upright and look at Gibb’s retreating form with hope. 

***

“Our dead sailor is Petty Officer Evan Davidson. A corpsman stationed at The Basic School in Quantico. Reported UA four days ago.” 

“Last seen Thursday night at a Georgetown bar,” Tony picked up where Ziva had left off. Gibbs had noticed that Tony’s steps had seemed lighter since their talk at the crime scene. He practically skipped over to the screen behind Gibbs’ desk. “His marine buds said he hooked up with a girl and left before closing. Marines ever leave before closing?” Tony smiled until Gibbs gave him a warning in the form of a raised eyebrow. “I’m gonna head down to Quantico, get her description.”

Gibbs inwardly smiled at being the cause of the spring in Tony’s step, though he didn’t dwell on the reason why he felt happy about Tony’s happiness. Instead he turned to his desk and barked out, asking about the card they found on the body. “Where is he?”

“Apparently not here.” Ziva looked around for a moment before she went to find him. However, the team’s absence and a lack of leads at the moment left Gibbs time to wonder about recent events. 

_ So Tony is Harry. Harry was targeted by Voldemort because of a prophecy. Harry became Tony, but not because of Voldemort.  _

_ Harry knew the ‘Seer.’ _ He remembered the bitter words that Tony had spoken.  _ “hack that can’t teach divination without ‘predicting’ someone’s death by the end of the week.” _

_ Apparently they teach “How to tell the future”  _

_ Luna went to school with Tony. Is that how she’s always where she needs to be? _

Thoughts swirled further in his mind before Gibbs felt he had indulged himself enough and headed down to Autopsy to get an update and see what his old friend had discovered. 

_ Ducky’s talked with Luna about ‘Ravenclaws’. Ducky went to the same school Tony and Luna did. Maybe I can ask him questions about Hogwarts. _

The elevator door opened and he heard Ducky and Palmer, “-scarred, and well on it’s way to full-blown cirrhosis.”

“He’s an alcoholic?” 

“Was, Mr. Palmer.” Gibbs sauntered up to the table and asked his predictable question,  _ no need to see the future when they already know that I want to know how he died. _

“That what killed him, Duck?”   


“No, but it was certainly a contributing factor. His blood-alcohol level was five times the legal limit. I’m surprised he could stand, never mind break into an abandoned restaurant.” Ducky turned and pointed at the table behind him. “And his preliminary tox screen also shows traces of Ecstasy and other chemicals in his blood- quite a volatile cocktail. I trust your days in the Marines were not as exciting as this poor man’s turned out to be.”

Gibbs smiled at Ducky, “oh, they were probably about as boring as your school days were at Hogwarts.” 

Palmer squeaked and frantically looked between the two older men. Ducky smiled, “so you and Anthony are talking, good.”

“Yeah, so what kind of other chemicals were in our sailor, Duck?”

Ducky nodded and turned back to his body, “Abby’s running them right now. It appears our young man went on a bender Thursday night, one from which he could not recover.”

“He OD’d.”

“That would explain the multiple organ failures we found. A-are we not going to talk about Gibbs knowing about Hogwarts?” Ducky and Gibbs slowly turned to face Palmer. “I-I mean, Gibbs isn’t supposed to know...isn’t he?”

“Mr. Palmer, in all the years that I’ve been here, don’t you think I would have tested his blood by now?” Ducky serenely stared back at his young assistant. 

“I- well, I mean, um.”

“I mean, you are in a rather good position to know that type of thing about your coworkers,” Gibbs turned to face Ducky with a slightly accusing glance. “Maybe even tell them certain things so they weren’t blindsided by the information.”

“Oh like a fourth marriage.”

The accusing glance turned withering, “not the same thing, Duck.”

Ducky nodded, “You’re right, but then again I was not supposed to be the one to tell you.”

Gibbs’ look turned calculating, “telling the future, Ducky.”

“Mother dabbles every now and then,” Ducky shrugged and went back to his autopsy.

Gibbs shook his head and turned to leave, letting the two men finish with the body. He made a pitstop to pick up the usual Caf-Pow! and headed for Abby. He stepped off the elevator to hear more conversation. 

“Which may be why I started talking to my machines in the first place.” Abby sounded like she had made a significant realization. It brought a smile to his lips as he heard McGee.

“Well, Abs, I gotta tell him something.”

“Tell him you love him, McGee.” That made his smile broaden before he carefully removed it from his face. “It works for me.”

He chose that moment to come walking in, “not all the time.”

“Hi, Gibbs.” Abby twirled around as her computer started beeping, “Just in time. This is the mass spec on the mystery compounds in Petty Officer Davidson’s blood. It’s organic and it’s definitely what killed him. Meet neriin, oleandrin, and oleondroside.”

“Friends of yours, Elf Lord?”  _ If McGee doesn’t know about it, maybe I can ask Tony. _

Instead, Abby answered, “No, Gibbs. They’re not characters from  _ Lord of the Rings. _ They’re compounds… found in the oleander plant.” She then pulled up an image of a white flower. 

“What drug is made from that?” Ziva asked the question that he was wondering. 

“None. It’s pure poison.” Abby responded with the excitement in her voice about seeing something new.  _ Odd that the killer would use that plant, there are easier things to poison people with. Yet, if the killer were a wizard, couldn’t he just use that killing curse? I’ll talk with Tony about it when he gets back from Quantico.  _

“Our Petty Officer didn’t OD.”

Gibbs nodded his agreement to McGee’s observation, “he was murdered.” 

They went back up to the bullpen to find Tony had returned and had gotten a sketch of the Petty Officer’s date that night. Once Tony was done giving his sitrep and they had filled Tony in, Gibbs called Tony to his ‘office.’ His SFA dutifully followed him to the elevator and didn’t start talking when Gibbs flipped the switch, instead he waited for his boss to begin dialogue.

“Oleander plant, magical?”

Tony waved his hand and Gibbs felt a kind of bubble snap into place around them, he looked to Tony quizzically and saw a look of shock in his SFA’s eyes. “Most can’t feel magic, boss. I put a silencing bubble around us, make sure no one’s listening in the vents. But, uh, Potions wasn’t necessarily my strong suit in school, but I think I remember Oleander being the base for most poisons. We never worked with it in school, what with it being pure poison, but it was mentioned in the books. I can ask Luna to look around at apothecary's.”

“What about the Killing Curse?”

“Not everyone can cast it. Unless we’re dealing with Death Eaters, or powerful wizards. Why do you think there have been so few cases involving the Killing Curse? The caster has to really mean it for it to work right, same goes for all the Unforgivables.”  

“Unforgivables?”

“Killing Curse, kills you. Imperius Curse, controls you. Cruciatus Curse, pains you.” Gibbs made a look and Tony chuckled, “Yeah, pretty straight forward, aren’t they?”

Gibbs nodded once before his thoughts went back to a title that Tony had used, “Death Eaters?”

“Followers of Voldemort. Even though he’s dead, there are some that are still active and like to try to hunt me down every now and then.” Tony ended his statement with a shrug and Gibbs knew that these Death Eaters were not the reason that Tony had left  _ Harry Potter _ behind. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony stood at the bar as he waited to be seated on his date with Jeanne. She had gone around the corner of the bar to answer her phone and from the tenseness he saw in her shoulders, it was not a pleasant call. He felt the urge to help, not just because he was supposed to be playing the dutiful boyfriend, but also because of the cruel tricks he had been imposing on her. He felt guilty. 

_ Alcohol usually helps with numbing guilt and Jeanne might appreciate it. _ Tony turned to face the bartender and held up his hand to order. “Two Belvedere Martinis. Straight up. Very dry. Very cold. Twist of lemon.” Jeanne turned back to face him for a moment and he tried to smile encouragingly at her, she gestured to the phone and grimaced. 

After that, she turned back around and slammed her phone shut, the drinks arrived and Tony offered Jeanne hers as she walked over. She took the drink gratefully and her shoulders relaxed a little. She smiled at him and then turned to her drink and nearly chugged the whole thing down. Realizing what she had done, Jeanne stopped and chuckled nervously at him. 

“Cheers,” Tony turned up the charm.

“Sorry. Sante.” They clinked their glasses and Tony quietly took a drink as she started to explain. “Yes. That was him. And no, I will not tell you his name.”

His guilt over what he would cause her in the future made protectiveness swell in him and he wanted nothing more than to find this guy and Obliviate Jeanne from his life, just so he would leave her alone. “Did I ask?” 

“Your eyes did.”

He smiled a charming smile, “What are they asking now?”  _ Skip dinner and end this farce of a relationship before I break your heart.  _

“To skip dinner.” Tony nearly choked on his drink. 

“You are amazing.” He stopped her before she could continue on the off chance that she could actually catch on to some of his thoughts.  _ Crazy thought, I know, but crazier shit has happened to me before. _ “I don’t know how you do it.”

“You always want to skip dinner, Tony.”  _ That’s because I really don’t want to spend time with you and break your heart, but I have to. _ “But not tonight, I’m famished.”

“Me too,” he said flirtatiously, playing the part of loving boyfriend.  _ Yeah, famished for Gibbs. _ He mentally smacked himself for that one and of course, every time he thinks of Gibbs, cue the Undead Peanut Gallery. 

“You know, you’re doing a wonderful job of seducing her,” Snape’s even tones slithered to him.

_ Just who I want to hear from while Undercover, the great Spy Severus Snape himself. _

“No need to get snarky with me, just because you can’t have who you want. It’s not like I know what that’s like. Oh, wait…”

Tony growled at Snape, but his head was near Jeanne’s neck and she had just vetoed any ‘plans’ he may or may not have had, so the growl wasn’t out of place. Instead he leaned back and pulled on the charm once more. “Alright, our reservations aren’t until 8. How ‘bout, uh, some oysters to tide us over?”

Jeanne breathed a chuckle at him, “the last thing you need is an increased libido.”

“You don’t believe that old wives’ tale, do you?” 

“It’s true. Oysters are rich in rare amino acids that trigger increased levels of sex hormones.” 

Without missing a beat, Tony turned his head to the nearest waitress, “two dozen malpeques, please. We’ll be at that table. And more alcohol!” He grinned at the bartender with the last statement and led Jeanne over to an available waiting table. 

“You know, she’s right about the oysters, maybe you should think about slipping Gibbs some.” Tony had to grit his teeth not to snap at Snape’s uproarious laughter that sounded so very out of place for the surly man. 

“Alright, that’s enough teasing, Severus.” Tony sighed in relief as he heard his mother’s voice practically dragging Snape away. 

Tony took that moment to give Jeanne a once-over, “you look incredible.” 

She smiled and wiggled her bare shoulders with happiness, “I’m glad you like it. It’s my favorite.”

“Wasn’t talking about the dress.”  _ Even though I was. _ “I meant you, Jeanne.” She sighed contentedly and thanked him before pulling a red box out of her purse.  _ Oh, Merlin. What the hell is that? _

He chuckled nervously, “What’s that?”

“I’m working Wednesday.”  _ Fuck, what’s Wednesday.  _

“Wednesday?”

“Valentine’s Day.” She graciously informed him.

_ Well, fuck.  _ He chuckled nervously, “oh, yeah. Yeah. Comes around fast every year, doesn’t it?” 

“Mm-hmm.”  _ Well, at least this year won’t be spent alone. _

“Just not with the one you want,” he heard Snape’s voice as if it were far away just before he heard a smack of some sort followed by an, ‘ow.’

“Yeah, uh,” his Ghostly Peanut Gallery distracted his brain from coming up with a plausible lie to tell Jeanne about her present, so he went with the truth. “Well, your gift...is still at the store because I...I never bought it. Sorry.”

She thought over his words for a moment, “you know how wonderful it is to be with someone who doesn’t even lie about the little things?” She smiled encouragingly, silently warning him that he should get her a gift at some point, “go on. Open it.”

“Oh, it’s not just the box?” Laughter bubbles from her mouth and he feels a little bit better for it. “I was gonna say it’s the nicest box I’ve ever-” He opened the box to see a metal band that looked to be the size of a bracelet. 

“It’s, uh, more permanent than the last one I tagged you with.” “Uh-huh. This is, uh…” he floundered for some kind of reason to put his feelings of trepidation behind. “This is platinum. It’s expensive, Jeanne.”

“I’m a doctor. I can afford it.” He looked down at his wrist as she clasped it to him.

“Mental Ward?” He looked over at her teasingly and she burst into laughter. “You trying to tell me something?”

“It worked last time.”

He glanced up to her face, “yes, it did. I’ve never had a gift this unique.” He leaned in to kiss her as her phone started vibrating with an incoming call. “He doesn’t give up, does he?”

“I’m going to change my number.”

“Okay, don’t be ridiculous. Let me talk to him.” He reached over for her phone as she told him “no” and covered her phone with her hand before he could reach it. 

“I don’t want you to get involved in my problem. I can handle it.”

Tony nodded and backed away with his hands held up in surrender, “alright. Your problem, you got it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day saw Tony at his desk furiously calculating in his head how much it would cost to take Jeanne on a vacation that happened to have a romantic theme. He heard Ziva in the background, talking about Shakira of all things. He tuned her out and continued his calculations.

_ Damnit, if I want to take her to the bahamas, with Tony’s funds being what they are...I’ll have to dip into Harry’s funds.  _

“You’re not even listening to me, are you?” 

“Uh-huh,” he clicked away from his bank accounts and switched the screen back to vacation ads and mentally prepared himself for the fallout this could cause.  _ Good thing set up security measures in case I ever had to access my old accounts. _

He felt Ziva leaning on his shoulder. “Where are we going?”

“ _ We _ ’re not going anywhere.”

“Who are you taking, McGee? I don’t know how Luna would feel about you taking her boyfriend on a romantic getaway.” Tony resisted the urge to headbutt her until a deep voice asked for Gibbs.

“Agent Gibbs around? I brought him an early Valentine’s day present.” Tony looked up to see Detective Morris escorting what looked like the Junkie of all Junkies. He smiled and nodded his head for Ziva to take care of this.

She gave him a challenging look before he picked up the phone and began dialing Gibbs’ number. Ziva led the men down to Interrogation while he informed Gibbs of what was going on. He then hung up the phone and dialed another number. 

“Greetings, Gringotts Bank Directory, how may I direct your call?”

“Yes, my name is Tony DiNozzo and I am in need of accessing Harry Potter’s vaults.”

“One moment please.” He was infinitely glad that Gringotts was not like the rest of the wizarding world in Britain and had quickly changed with the times, afterall, Goblins liked money. They didn’t care if you were Wizard, Mundane, or Squib. Money was money. 

A new voice was heard on the telephone, “Greetings, Mr. DiNozzo. It appears you are trying to access Mr. Harry Potter’s vaults, I’m afraid I’ll have to verify who you are with a few questions. Now, these questions were set up specifically by Harry Potter himself and-”

“Yes, sir. I know, please ask the questions.”

“Right then, What is the name of the guardian of the Begonias?” Tony smiled at the memory of the friend he had made while gardening in his Aunt’s garden.

“Noodles was the guardian of the Begonias.”

The man cleared his throat, clearly he didn’t expect Tony to get that right. “Very well, next question. What was the goal of the cave where Dumbledore died? What the hell kind of questions are these? Dumbledore didn’t die in a cave-”

“Slytherin’s locket.” Tony interrupted the man’s tirade about the inaccuracy of the questions. “Next question, if you would be so kind.”

“Very well, What is the phrase for the Marauder’s map? Good lord, what on earth are these questions even about, they don’t make any sense-”

“Which makes them perfect questions for this sort of thing sir, and the answer is: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

The man on the other end of the line gaped for a moment, Tony knew because he could hear the smacking of the man’s lips. “It seems you are correct, sir, on all accounts… Please wait while I connect you to Griphook, the account manager.”

Tony hummed the Jeopardy theme song while he waited, “Mr. DiNozzo, I’ve been waiting for you to call.”

“Excuse me?”

“It appears that Harry Potter’s vaults have been broken into, we’ve been trying to contact him for months now to inform him that a theft has occurred.”

Tony cast a quick ‘notice-me-not’ and ‘silencing’ charms around him. “What was taken?”

“I’m sorry, but I can only tell the account holder-”

“I  _ am _ the bloody account holder of vault 687, as well as the Black and upon presentation I was granted the Peverell Vaults since I hold all three Deathly Hallows, now what was stolen from my vaults.” A sense of panic rose within him as he recalled that he had stored his ticket to his new life in the Peverell Vaults. He hoped that special Time-Turner hadn’t been stolen, that would be bad.

There was a moment of silence as Griphook gathered his thoughts, “that would explain how you knew the answers to the questions.” Was muttered before information followed. “It seems that out of Vault 687 the pieces of a broom were stolen.”

That brought Tony up short.  _ My Nimbus? _ “Anything else?”

“No, sir.”

“Thank you for the information. I commend any efforts you made to attempt to reach me to inform me of this grievance.” It was always good to complement those that held your money for you.

“We informed the Aurors of this and they have not made much headway in their investigation at this time. Was there anything else you needed, Mr. Po-”

“DiNozzo!” He quickly corrected. “Remember that. And yes, there was something else I needed, I need the equivalent of 3000 US Dollars transferred to my accounts in America. The branch of Gringotts here has my information.”

“Very well, Mr. DiNozzo. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“No, thank you. That will be all.” He set the phone down in it’s cradle and mulled over this new information. _Who would steal from me? Why would they only steal broken pieces of a broom?_ _Maybe Ducky or Palmer will have some insight into that mystery. Now on to the mystery of our dead Petty Officer._

Tony got up from his desk and stretched a bit before heading down to Interrogation. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs had felt the bubble from the elevator appear in the building and wondered about as he walked into interrogation to talk with the junkie that Metro had oh so kindly gift wrapped for him. “Got somebody I want you to meet, Frankie.” Gibbs let the Detective introduce him before he calmly sat in his chair. “This is Special Agent Gibbs. Wants to ask you a few questions.”

“Look, I didn’t do nothing wrong. I mean, I, I didn’t even use the card.” Gibbs held back the smirk that threatened to break his face if he let it out, he had heard all this before.

“No problem. I just want to know how you got it.”  _ Now is the part where he lies about where he found it, or maybe he’ll be honest and be able to tell me a little about how my sailor died. _

“Oh, I found it. You know, in the street.” He nearly sighed at the man’s story so far.

Gibbs looked up at the Detective, “Where do you keep your credit cards, Detective Morris?” He hoped that, like Tony would have, Detective Morris picked up on his play and backed it.

“Oh, like 99% of the people on this planet, uh, a wallet. You?”  _ Maybe NCIS should hire from Police Departments more often. _ Gibbs chuckled to himself at the thought.  _ But no one would be as good as my Tony. _

He allowed a little chuckle out as he nodded his agreement, “Yeah. Same. Same.” He even pulled out the wallet that Nathair had given him and tossed it on the table, enjoying the magical warmth that radiated from it. “You see, we got a problem here, Frank, because Petty Officer Davidson’s wallet was found lying next to his body.”

“And his body wasn’t out in the street.” Gibbs put his wallet back in his pocket as Frank tried to come up with an excuse for that.

Frank looked frantically between Gibbs and Detective Morris for a moment. “Well, you ever stop to think, uh, the guy could have dropped it?” 

Gibbs hummed thoughtfully. “Man does raise a valid point.”

He nodded in agreement at the Detective’s statement, “Yeah, yeah, works for me.” Gibbs grabbed his coffee and rose and started walking towards the door.

“Good. So, I can… I, I can go?” 

“Uh, no. I think I’m gonna charge you with murder instead.” Gibbs walked out the door, leaving it open for Detective Morris to follow.

“Wait, I didn’t murder nobody! Look, he was still breathing…”  _ Ah, them’s the magic words. Ugh, I’m never going to think of the word magic the same way again. Thanks, Tony. _

Gibbs coyly came back around the doorframe, he gave Frank a look before he came back into the room and set his coffee back on the table. Frank sat back down in his chair and Gibbs leaned over the table. “Frankie, Frankie, Frankie.”

“Look, when I found your guy, uh, he was pretty wasted.”

“Where?”

“In an alley. Behind One Club.”

Detective Morris looked frustrated, “you saw him coming out of there?”  _ Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a problem? _

“No. No, he, he was, was lying over by some dumpsters. All right, so I decided, I decided to keep an eye on him, you know, to make sure he don’t hurt himself.” Frank looked at them both imploringly.

Gibbs gave him an incredulous look, “I think you need to find a new line of work.”

“He’s dead, you retread.” 

“Not when I saw him!” Frank looked over at Detective Morris. “I mean, all I did, all right, was help him into that restaurant and I just, I just waited for him to pass out.”

“So you could rob him?” 

“Well, yeah. Look, man, but I didn’t… I- I didn’t kill him.”

Gibbs let some of his frustration show in his voice, “No, but you just left him there to die.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony practically leaped to follow Gibbs as he led the way to Abby’s lab. Metro had been regaling them with tales of failed attempts to raid One Club. Something niggled at the back of his brain about One Club. He sent a text off to Luna asking about it and to find out about if any apothecaries had sold Oleander to anyone. 

_ Nothing on the Oleander, it's a controlled substance among apothecaries. Not too many uses for it outside of Poison, so it’s not a popular plant to be sold. Most don’t even carry it.  _

_ K, thnx for looking into it 4 me.  _

_ Honestly, Tony, it doesn’t take that much longer to type out what you’re saying instead of using the short hand. _

_ But it’s soooooooo much quicker. Anyway anything about 1 Club. _

_ Only that it’s the most popular spot for Wizards to mingle among the Mundane. Can’t get in unless you’re a Famous Mundane or a Wizard. Helps your chances if you’re a Famous Wizard.  _

_ Like you from your books? _

_ Or You for defeating Voldemort. ;) _

_ Ugh, don’t even joke about that, you knw y I left. _

_ Ah, but how much fun would I miss out on if I stopped teasing you.  _

The group arrived at Abby’s lab and Abby went into Presentation Mode. “On the surface, it’s a moderately priced Italian knockoff. But on the inside of the heel, a portable pharmacy.” While Abby was in presentation mode, Tony signaled for Gibbs to look at his phone. Gibbs leaned over and he felt his heart rate increase at the nearness of Gibbs. He showed Gibbs the texts from Luna and saw a calculating look enter his gaze. 

“Well that could have gotten him through the door,” Detective Morris remarked.

“That’s a good job, Abby.” Gibbs praised her and to Tony it sounded like it was a little on autopilot as that calculating look remained.

“Oh, that was just the warm-up act, Gibbs. The real show is in here, with McGee.” Abby did a little twirl as she led them to the back of her lab. There Abby and McGee showed them that the laminated card they had found at the crime scene said, “expect more.” written in blood. Tony did not like the memories that crossed his mind at the memory of blood writing.  _ At least this time it’s not written on the walls.  _

They got back up to the bullpen and Metro began arguing about getting a proper warrant to enter the place. Shortly thereafter Gibbs headed up to Jenny’s office with Lee, Tony winced and gave Lee a sympathetic look. She smiled back at him in thanks and followed Gibbs up to the Director’s office. Tony tuned in to his eavesdropping spells and nearly laughed out loud at Gibbs stopping himself and called Lee a “legal person.” Tony turned off his spells as their conversation ended and decided he needed a break from this current case. 

He didn’t particularly want to, but he needed to give Jeanne her Valentine’s Day gift. So he took his break and headed for the hospital. He arrived at Jeanne’s floor and saw her smiling and laughing at something. 

“Excuse me. I need a prescription for this burning sensation in my loins.” She turned and showed what she had been laughing at.

“Are you trying to outspend me?”  _ No, but maybe you should go on that trip with stalker Ex if he’s spending that kind of money.  _ He gave her an expectant look. “A Bermuda weekend?”  _ Damn, Bermuda would have been good too. _ “What could be a more perfect Valentine?”

She walked up and kissed him gently and he showed her his brochure. “A weekend in The Bahamas?” The smile fell from her face. “It’s interesting though. He and I must be a lot alike.” She grimaced and started ripping up the papers in her hands. 

“You are… You are night and day.”

Thoughts flew to his mouth and he let himself feel how the relationship  _ should  _ be for a moment. “How does that work, exactly? Am- am I day and he’s night, or you just switch us out?” 

“That was totally uncalled for, Tony?” Jeanne looked around for a second before she dragged him to an empty stairwell so they could talk in private. “That was totally uncalled for.” 

“Was it, Jeanne?” a part of him hated himself for pushing this, but as a  _ boyfriend _ he would push it. Then there was her insistence for her to handle it herself. “He still calls, plans a Valentine’s weekend in Bermuda with you. I’d say that’s not a man who understands it’s over.”

“It’s over… for me.”  _ Ah, there it is. Merlin, if I ever get what I want and end up with Gibbs, I know I won’t stand for this sort of thing. It’s team or nothing. I would rather have nothing with him than for him to not let me in like this. _

“I’m not so sure. If you can’t sell him, and you won’t let me handle it, then maybe it’s not over for you.” His leg bounced a little with pent up frustration at the entire situation. 

“Don’t do this, Tony.”

_ Okay, new approach. _ “Okay, what if I had an ex-girlfriend who was always calling me and planning little romantic getaways for the two of us? How would you feel?”

“I wouldn’t like it. But I would trust you to handle it.”

“And if I didn’t handle it?” 

“Then it would be  _ your _ problem. Just as this is mine.”  _ Good for her, she doesn’t want to be a team player in this relationshit that I’ve been facilitating.  _

“Exactly, wrong. This is  _ our  _ problem, Jeanne.” He handed her the brochure and walked out of the hospital. 

Tony sat in his car for a moment, “Pessimistically hopeful moment here, but if Gibbs and I ever get together and he pulls that kind of shit with me-”

“Promises of violence?” Tonks leaned against the dashboard with half of her forehead hanging out of the windshield. 

“Something like that,” Tony put the car in reverse and drove away from the hospital.

***

Tony got back to work and shared the tidbit of information he had found by asking around. Gibbs had them set up surveillance at the club and Tony took out his copy of GSM. John the Metro cop commented on it, “That, uh...Feb’s?”

“Pro cheerleaders in the off-season.”

“Yeah, buddy in Vice told me one of them’s a man.” Tony looked sharply down at his magazine. 

“No,” he exclaimed in hopeful disbelief. John hummed the affirmative. “Well, I probably shouldn’t be looking at it anyway. I’m trying to wrap my head around the idea of a monogamous relationship.”  _ Part of the role of Tony DiNozzo, notorious playboy.  _

“That takes serious retraining.” John commented.  _ Knew that was the right card to play, guy reeked of recently ended relationship.  _

“Tell me about it.”

“Ugh! You’re not in love, are you?”

_ Yeah, but not with the one that I’m currently with. _ “Could be.”

“Could be, my friend, isn’t love.”

“-Isn’t love. I know, I know. It’s complicated, John.” They continued to set up their van as they talked, not John’s first rodeo either. They moved in relative comfort with each other as they established a report over mutual playboy-ness. 

“Aren’t they all?”

“No. Usually, they’re pretty simple. Fall in love, three weeks later, fall out of love.”  _ Or you fall for your boss and then there’s a whole slew of reasons not to even think of approaching him with such thoughts. _

“It’s been my life. Except for once. I got engaged.” Tony froze, as per his persona, and looked sharply over at John as he asked what happened. “What do you think? I screwed it up. I, um, slept with her best friend.” 

_ Ooh, not good.  _ A shudder ran through Tony at the thought of being with Gibbs and then sleeping with Fornell.  _ I would have to be black-out drunk and Imperio’d to even have a snowball’s chance in hell of sleeping with Fornell, or Franks.  _ Tony chuckled sympathetically, “Oh. That is not nice, John.”

“Yeah, I know. She was the one, too. She’s… smart. Beautiful. Funny. The whole marriage package. Oh, well. I’ll always have April 2005 to keep me company.”

“ _ Hooter Girls of DC? _ ” 

“Yeah. Collector’s edition.”

“Yeah.” Tony glanced down and picked up his copy of GSM. John looked over at him with a look. “Baby steps.” 

***

Gibbs showed up shortly after One Club opened. “Hey boss, what’s up?” Gibbs had called Tony earlier and filled them in on the MAD magazine cover-like shoe print.

“We’re going in.” 

“You got a warrant?”   


“No. No, we’ve got somebody rich and famous.” Ice ran through Tony’s veins as he stared at Gibbs.  _ Please don’t ask me to go undercover as Harry Potter.  _ Gibbs met his eyes and minutely shook his head. He mouthed the words, “Thom Gemcity.” Tony felt his pulse calm to a manageable pace and looked up at the screens in time to see Tim get out of a limo with Luna, Ziva, and Abby at his side. 

Tony shook his head in exasperation,  _ Lu-lu enjoys tormenting me too much. _

“That’s what makes her your sister in all but blood, Tony,” Kate’s voice echoed in his ear. He felt Gibbs stiffen behind him, then shake himself loose. “I think Gibbs can hear us.”

_ Maybe, maybe he’s just cold. _

“If you really believe that, you’re a shit investigator and I know you better than that, Tony.” 

“Our very own famous novelist, Thom E. Gemcity,” Gibbs explained for the van. 

“Who?”

“Don’t ask,” Tony was just relieved that it wasn’t him. “I’d vomit explaining.”

Gibbs clicked on a radio, “McGee, if Delgado’s inside, you get her out quietly. Use Luna if you have to.” 

They got up to the bouncer and he asked for their names. Before Tim could start talking, Luna spoke up. “Veteran of Hogwarts 1993, Luna Lovegood. Here with Thom E. Gemcity.” 

The bouncer’s eyes got wide and hurriedly got out of her way, as they passed the bouncer proclaimed his love of “Deep Six”. Tim, Abby, and Ziva gave Luna a look. Luna shrugged and serenely made her way inside. 

Tony placed his elbow on the counter and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What’s Hogwarts?”

“Overseas school, had some issues in 1993. Woman in the alley. Camera three,” Gibbs nodded at the screen. John zoomed the screen tighter on her face, but it was overshadowed by her hood.

“Could be Delgado, right size.” Tony commented.

“That’s the best I can do.” John shrugged in defeat of the technology. 

Gibbs lightly brushed his shoulder and Tony nodded for John to follow him to go check her out. Shortly after leaving the van Tony heard Gibbs in his ear, “Tony, that’s Delgado. Run.”

He picked up the pace and turned the corner of the alley to see Delgado in the owner’s arms. Tony cast a Protego over Delgado just as he was about to snap her neck. “Freeze! Federal Agents!”

Delgado dove behind a dumpster as Pell pulled out a gun and began shooting at Tony and John. John dove behind a parked car and Tony dove behind some pallets. John got two in Pell’s chest and Tony took the opportunity to put three more in his chest while Pell reeled in shock. Tony moved over and made sure that Pell was dead before he checked on Delgado. She was sobbing in shock, but she seemed okay. Things seemed to have worked out...until Tony looked over at John.

John fell to his knees and Tony saw a spot of blood growing on his chest. “Shit. John!” 

Just then Gibbs and Morris came around the corner. He heard Morris call for an ambulance as he placed his hands on the spot of blood, putting pressure on the wound. “Detective Morris, get Delgado out of here. Gibbs hold his head steady.”

Gibbs shot Tony a look, but Tony stared down at John. “You may have only been with us for this case, but you are currently a member of my team. No one on my team is dying!” 

Morris left the alley with Delgado and Gibbs stabilized John’s head. Tony looked up at Gibbs and power shone in his eyes. “This is the price of magic. It is against the law for me to save him. I would have to use magic, the only way I can get away with it is if I wipe his memory of this. It’ll take a lot of energy on my part and I might pass out.” 

Gibbs nodded his understanding and watched as magic swirled around them in that dark alleyway. Tony felt the sweat bead on his forehead as he worked. He pulled the bullet back, out of John’s lung. He stopped when the bullet was close to the surface and then stared deep into John’s eyes. He stared deep into John’s mind and saw that he was in fact the one that had been stalking Jeanne. He would have laughed at the irony if he had had the time. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gibbs watched in awe as Tony controlled the swirls of magic that he felt surrounding them. He heard the approaching of sirens and was about to say something when Carson’s breathing eased and he was no longer gasping for breath. Tony then stared into Carson’s eyes and Gibbs felt a powerful magic pass between Tony and Carson. Tony’s hands remained pressed on the wound and Gibbs had the feeling that eye contact was important for what Tony was doing, so he moved his hands to hold Carson’s head more stable. He began to worry for Tony when his SFA started blinking rapidly and Gibbs practically felt the energy drain out of Tony’s body. 

Gibbs saw Tony start listing to the side and Gibbs grabbed the other man’s shoulder. It felt as if the breath were knocked out of his lungs as he felt energy passing between them. “Hold on just a little longer, Tony. Get to the car, then you can rest.”

Tony’s eyes looked dead as they moved to look into Gibbs’. Tony nodded his understanding as if on autopilot and Gibbs returned his hand back to Carson’s head. Just then EMTs came around the corner, with Tim, Luna, Abby, and Ziva in tow. 

Luna took one look at the scene and immediately moved to Tony’s side, placing a hand on Tony’s forehead and the center of Tony’s chest. Tony leaned heavily into Luna and Tim moved to help Tony get out of the way for the EMTs to work. 

“Come on, Tony let’s get out of here.” Gibbs heard Luna whispering to Tony.

Tony nodded numbly, “yeah, get to the car, then rest, right Gibbs?”

Gibbs moved closer to Tony’s side as Luna helped him to the car. “That’s right Tony, Gibbs is here. I’ll tell your  Inclecebra to leave you alone.”

_ Inclecebra? _ Tony started laughing. “Lu-lu, my Inclecebra are just about the only thing keeping me up right now.” Tony started sounding delirious. 

They met up with Morris, who was still with Delgado. Morris looked torn between being there for his teammate and comforting the witness. Gibbs nodded for Ziva to take over care of Delgado so that Morris could got with Carson.

Gibbs led the way over to their car and as soon as Tony’s butt hit the seat, he was out. Luna caught him just as he was about to fall out of the car and maneuvered him into a seated position and closed the door. Abby got in the car on the other side to cuddle up to Tony’s side. Tim moved away and was on the phone calling out another team to process the scene. Luna turned and looked at Gibbs. 

“He will follow your orders, Gibbs. Always. Be careful of what you order him. He doesn’t have many that look out for him. In all but blood, consider me his sister, just as Kate was.” Gibbs wasn’t shocked that Tony had told Luna about Kate. “Inclecebra are lust creatures. They feed off of mutual attraction between two people.” Luna gave him a hard look. “They have surround you and Tony. Don’t disappoint me.” Gibbs blinked in shock.

_ Am I getting the ‘Break his heart, I’ll break your legs’ talk from Luna, at a crime scene, over Tony? _ “But I’m not  _ lusting _ after Tony.”

“Nathair. I know. Just remember, don’t disappoint me.”


End file.
